The Maxwell Trap
by Dorothy Winner
Summary: Sydney Maxwell and Heidi Schbeiker meet for the first time in eleven years at summer camp... can they get their parents back together before Duo marries someone else?
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

"There you go! Good as new."

The customer gaped as eleven-year-old Sydney Maxwell's head popped out from under his car, a smear of engine grease on her cheek. She got up and gave the hood of his car a pat. "This baby should run pretty nicely from now on," she said, wiping her fingers on a rag. She scribbled something on a pad of paper, tore the top sheet off and handed it to the customer. "Here… take this to Jeff up front and he'll give you the bill. Car'll be out front when you're done."

"Oi! Syd!" Howard called from the other end of the garage. "This one needs an oil change… can you do that for me?"

"Sure thing, Howard!" Sydney called back. Having been taught by her father how to change the oil and filter of a car at the age of eight; it was her specialty, as she was now faster at it than Howard or any of the Sweepers and even her father. Her guarantee: Less than ten minutes or your money back.

Eight minutes later, she wiped her greasy fingers off on a rag and called out, "I'm going inside for a snack, 'kay?" She sauntered inside the house and went to the refrigerator. She had just put together a sandwich when the vidphone beeped. She pressed the 'on' button. "Maxwell's Scrapyard and Repair, You Break It, We'll Fix It, Sydney speaking, how may I help you?"

"Hello, may I speak to Duo Maxwell?" the man on the screen asked.

"Sure, one moment please." Sydney opened the back door and yelled, "Oi! Dad! Phone!"

"I'll be right there, babe!" Duo yelled from the scrapyard, wiping his hands on his jeans as he ran inside the house. "Ooooh, you made a sandwich just for me? Thanks!" said Duo, swiping Sydney's sandwich.

"_DAD_!!!"

~*~

Heidi Schbeiker grinned evilly as she typed into her computer. "Let's see how Uncle Wufei handles _that_ one!" she said triumphantly, hitting 'send' on her new virus.

"Heidi, what are you doing?" said Hilde, suddenly appearing at the door to her daughter's room.

"N-nothing, Mom," said Heidi, hastily bringing up another window on her computer.

"Nothing, my foot," said Hilde, going over to Heidi's computer and grabbing the mouse. She closed the window and brought up her daughter's e-mail. "Messages sent: changwufei@preventers.gov. Heidi, not _again_!"

The vidphone downstairs began to beep. "If that's him, you will be in serious trouble, young lady," said Hilde, leaving the room and going downstairs.

A few moments later, Heidi could hear a roar of fury from the vidphone. "ONNA! MY COMPUTER HAS CRASHED _AGAIN!_ THIS—IS—ALL—YOUR—DAUGHTER'S—FAULT!!!"  
  


Heidi giggled.

~*~

TBC…


	2. Summer Camp Proposal

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

"You're going away on a Sweepers mission for _two months_?"

"Yeah, I know, Sydney, I'm not any happier about it than you are," said Duo.

"But _why_? You've been a Sweeper since before I was born; how much more stuff can be floating around out there?"

"You'd be surprised," said Duo. "The things people leave floating around out there… some people just have no respect for space. There's all sorts of junk… building materials, obsolete parts, broken shuttles, busted equipment… it's like litter, ya know? They're too lazy to dispose of it themselves so they just go and eject it into space and make someone else do the work."

"And you're the one who has to go do it?"

"Pretty much, yeah," said Duo. "If no one cleaned up, space would be a giant floating junkyard. It'd be a real mess."

"Can't I go with you?"

"Well, Syd, it's pretty boring stuff, actually. We just fly around and suck up the stuff… and then we have to go through the pile and catalog it all. We gotta figure out what we can fix and use again, and what pretty much is useless we gotta throw into the incinerator. It can be pretty dangerous work sometimes, and I don't wanna risk ya getting hurt."

"So this means I can get the whole house to myself?" Sydney asked eagerly.

"I'd hate to see what this place would look like after you've lived in it for two months. Plus there's nobody here to watch ya. Nah, I was thinkin'… how would you like to go to summer camp?"

"Summer camp? Where?"

"On Earth. I looked around a bunch of places… there's a really nice one in Maine, you know, on the North American continent…"

"Dad, I've heard about those things… bad food, bad weather, mean camp counselors, annoying kids you have to share your cabin with, and _bugs_. You know I _hate_ bugs."

"That's cuz you're a colony kid… all this artificial stuff… you gotta go down there, breathe some fresh air, roll around in the dirt, get sunburned…"

"Dad, I won't even know anybody there," said Sydney.

"You're a great kid, Sydney, you'll make friends quick enough. There'll be a lot of girls there for you to get to know."

"Wait a minute. It's a _girls_ camp? You're not even sending me to a coed camp where there are at least some boys?"

"I have enough to worry about you going away to a camp for two months; I don't want to also worry about you being with _boys_ at the camp… no _way_…"

"I'm going to be stuck at a camp with all _girls_?"

"Come on, Syd, it won't be that bad. Plus, I talked to your Uncle Heero and Uncle Trowa… turns out Alexandra Yuy and Gabrielle Barton are going too. So you don't have to worry about not knowing anybody or being in a cabin with people you don't like."

"Alexandra and Gabrielle are going to be there? Awesome!" Sydney exclaimed.

"So does this mean ya wanna go?" asked Duo.

"I'll go pack right now!" Sydney said excitedly, running upstairs to her room. "I'm going to need so much stuff!"

"Sydney!" Duo called after her. "You don't have to… it's not for another week!"

~*~

"But I don't _want_ to go to summer camp!" Heidi cried in dismay.

Hilde put her hands on her hips. "It's not like you really have a choice. This happens every summer, Heidi. You sit in front of your computer all day, all summer."

"So? It's not like I'm fat or anything."

"But you hardly ever go outside anymore. I've decided that it would be good for you if you went to an outdoor summer camp. No computers for two months."

"_Two months_?" Heidi exclaimed in horror.

"Your Uncle Wufei came up with the idea, actually. He can't have you crashing his computer every other day. Plus it would be really good for you to meet new people who aren't_ online_. I found a really nice camp in Maine that I think you'll like."

"Does it have computers?"

"I already said it didn't."

"How can I like a camp that has _no_ _computers_?"

"Well, you're going to have to learn to like it. You know, you can still have fun without a computer, believe it or not. You'll get to learn and experience a lot of stuff that you can't do on a computer…"

Heidi decided to try a different tactic. "But what are you going to do without me?" she said, with her biggest puppy-dog eyes.

"I'll be keeping very busy at Preventers. I'm going on an extended mission for the next two months, so I won't even be at home."

"So you're just going to send me away?"

"Heidi, it's not like you're going to prison." Hilde ran her fingers through her daughter's long, blue-black hair. "I promise it'll be fun. Liane Chang and Megan Winner are also going… won't you like that?"

"I guess," said Heidi gloomily.

"So will you go to this camp? Please? If you _really_ hate it you'll never have to go again."

"I'll go if you really want me to, Mom."

"It'll be a great experience, I promise," said Hilde. She stood up. "Now, why don't you look through your stuff and see what you have so we can buy everything you need before you leave next week?"

"Okay." Heidi began rummaging through her closet. "Can I bring my laptop?"

"No."

"Can I bring my palm pilot?"

"No."

"Can I bring my portable vidscreen?"

"No."

"Can I bring my virtual reality headset?"

"No."

"Can I bring my—"

"NO!"

~*~

TBC…


	3. Arrival at Camp Walden

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

Heidi looked up apprehensively at the large wooden sign that read 'Welcome to Camp Walden.' "I can't believe I actually agreed to this."

"It's all your fault," said Liane, lugging her duffel bag out of the car. "If you hadn't kept crashing my dad's computer then none of this would have happened. My dad thought sending you to camp was such a good idea he decided to make me go to camp along with you!"

"And then," added Megan, "your mom told my mom that you were going to summer camp and my mom loved the idea so much she decided to send me too!"

"Well, with an attitude like that," said Abdul, handing Megan and Heidi their backpacks, "you're going to have a lousy next two months at summer camp. I say, since you're stuck going to camp no matter what, you might as well try to enjoy yourselves."

"Yeah, you can say that," said Heidi, "you're not the one who's going…"

"I'm sure you'll have lots of fun," said Abdul, getting back into the car. "I'll see you in two months!" he said cheerfully, driving away.

"Aaaaaaaahhh!" Heidi shouted, slapping at her arm. "I haven't been here for five minutes and I've been bitten by a mosquito! I hate this place already!"

~*~

Several heads turned as a bright pink limo pulled into the campgrounds. A door opened and a girl with messy brown hair got out, scowling. "I can't believe my mom made us ride in this hideous… _monstrosity_…" Alexandra grumbled. "God I hate pink…"

Sydney got out of the limo and stretched, taking a deep breath. She looked around. "Wow. I love this place already. The sky is so blue and the air is so rich and the trees are so tall… it's even better than the pictures."

"Geez," said Gabrielle as the three of them helped Pagan get their stuff out of the trunk, "you make colony life sound so deprived."

"Oh it's not," said Sydney, "but it's just so different, you know? Don't get me wrong, I love the colonies and space, but Earth is so… so _alive_. I think I'm really gonna like it here."

Alexandra struggled with a particularly large duffel bag. "How much stuff did you have to bring, Sydney?"

"Be very careful with that. The contents of that bag," said Sydney with a very mischievous smile, "are going to come in _very_ useful. This, my friends, is our prank arsenal."

"You're kidding," said Alexandra.

"Oh, not at all," said Sydney. "Shaving cream, itching powder, silly string, paint, yarn, chocolate syrup, vegetable oil, honey, and my personal favorite… engine grease."

"Excellent," said Gabrielle.

"Brilliant," said Alexandra.

"Of course," said Sydney. "I am, after all, the daughter of Shinigami."

~*~

A tall girl with red hair stood in front of the main lodge, a megaphone in her hand. "All girls over here please!" she shouted. "Everyone over here so you can sign up for your cabins!"

About two hundred girls began pushing and shoving to try and get through under the 'Camp Walden' sign arch so they could sign up for their cabins first. Alexandra spotted Sydney up ahead. "Hey! Sydney! Wait up!" she shouted.

"Alexandra, I'm right behind you," said Sydney.

Alexandra turned around. "How did you—I just saw—weren't you just—" Alexandra looked back again, but the girl she had thought was Sydney had disappeared.

"What?" asked Sydney.

"I thought you were—never mind," said Alexandra, shaking her head. 

"Come on, let's go sign up for the same cabin before all the good spots are taken," said Gabrielle, pushing forward, as did Sydney.

Alexandra followed, still perplexed. She was so sure that it had been Sydney up ahead. Had she been seeing double?

~*~

TBC…


	4. Cabin Assignments

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

After signing up for their cabins, all the girls assembled in the main lodge.

"Hello, and welcome to Camp Walden!" the red-haired girl said cheerfully into her megaphone. "My name is Mariemaia Khushrenada, and I'm your head camp counselor."

"You're kidding," said Heidi.

"Isn't she your cousin?" Liane asked Megan.

"Somehow or other," said Megan.

"Didn't she try and take over the world?" asked Heidi.

"Megalomania runs on my mom's side of the family," said Megan.

"Now that you all have signed up for your cabins," Mariemaia went on, "I'll call out your cabin assignments and give you your maps so you know where everything is. Once you find your cabins you can get settled in. Please get into your uniforms once you are done unpacking. Lunch will be here in the main lodge at 1300 hours." She flipped through several pages on her clipboard. "Okay. Wing Zero cabin: Barton, Gabrielle; Maxwell, Sydney; Yuy, Alexandra." She looked at the sheet oddly and looked at the back side. "That's weird… there's supposed to be eight girls in each cabin…"

"Saying 'Omae o korosu' comes in very useful at times," Alexandra whispered to Sydney and Gabrielle. The three of them giggled.

"Oh well," said Mariemaia, "looks like you girls are very lucky. Here are your maps. Take the path to your right once you exit the main lodge."

Liane watched the three girls leave. "That girl looks familiar…"

"Which one?" asked Megan.

"The one with the black hair…"

"Deathscythe cabin: Carpenter, Gretchen; Chang, Liane; Hanley, Victoria; King, Ashley; Paul, Julia; Schbeiker, Heidi; Silverman, Nicole; Winner, Megan," announced Mariemaia.

"That's us," said Heidi, getting up.

"You signed us up for the Deathscythe cabin?" asked Liane.

"Yeah, what about it?" asked Heidi.

"But I wanted the Shenlong or Altron cabin…"

The three of them met up with the five other girls in their cabin. "Maps for everybody…" said Mariemaia. "Follow the path on the right; your cabin should be just across from the Wing Zero cabin."

"Everybody together? Okay, let's go," said Heidi.

"Next cabin, Heavyarms: Bergeren, Missy…"

~*~

"This is way too cool," said Sydney, flopping down onto a bed. "Eight beds and just the three of us. You are so awesome, Alexandra."

"Don't tell my mom; she'll be extremely upset. She's trying to teach me pacifism, but it's not working," said Alexandra with a mischievous smile.

"I was wondering why that one girl ran away from you with looking terrified," said Gabrielle.

"It's quite simple. Patented Yuy Glare O'Death," said Alexandra. "Works like a charm. I had my dad teach me, when I was seven. My mom was so _mad_…" She unzipped her duffel bag and shook out its contents onto the floor. "There. All unpacked."

Sydney and Gabrielle did the same. "Okay, just so we're all clear," said Sydney, "this is my pile, that's Gabrielle's, and that's yours, Alexandra."

"Sounds good to me," said Alexandra. "Here, put our prank arsenal under your bed; we can't have the counselors finding it."

"Right," said Sydney, shoving the bag under her bed. "The cabin across from us looks like a good target, don't you think?" she said, peering out the window at the Deathscythe cabin.

Alexandra's Prussian blue eyes had a strange gleam in them. "Unsuspecting target, close proximity, element of surprise… yes, that cabin will make an excellent target. Good choice, Sydney."

"I say we wait," said Gabrielle, "see what the enemy is like, their habits and stuff, figure out the best time to strike. After all, we're going to be here for two months. Let them think they're safe, then hit them hard with all we've got."

Sydney put her arms around her two best friends. "Excellent plan, girls. They'll never know what hit 'em."

~*~

"Ugh, how ugly are these?" said Heidi, holding up a short-sleeved khaki shirt that had a little red-on-black W on the sleeve. "Did Mariemaia design them?"

"Look, if you turn the W upside-down it looks like the Mariemaia insignia," said Liane. "Now all you need are the tie and the horrible knee-high socks."

"And look at these shorts, they aren't much better," said Heidi, holding up the matching pair of dark blue shorts. "Look, they go down to your knees."

"You got shorts? I got a skirt," said Megan, holding up her pleated blue skirt.

"Sorry, I wouldn't be caught dead in a skirt," said Heidi. "Ugh, this place is like a girl scout camp or something. Why don't they just let us wear what we want?"

"They want all the girls to look unified, I guess," said Liane.

"But this? You expect me to go hiking through the woods in _this_?" said Heidi, waving the hated shorts in the air.

"I suppose they'll give us something else to wear for those kinds of activities," said Liane.

"Great." Heidi looked out the window. "Hey, isn't that the cabin with just the three girls in it?"

"Yeah," said the girl named Julia. "I was gonna sign up for that cabin, but the one girl with the brown hair glared at me in this really scary way and said 'Oh-mah-ee oh koh-rohs,' or something like that. I don't even know what it means, but I thought, 'I definitely don't want to be in a cabin with that girl for the next two months,' so I just went to the next sheet and put my name down for this one."

"'Omae o korosu?'" said Heidi. "That's Japanese for 'I'll kill you!'"

"You should report her to the counselors!" exclaimed Megan.

"It's only the first day; I don't want any trouble," said Julia. "Besides, she's not _really_ going to kill me."

"That girl is just bullying you to get what she wants," said Liane. "Bullies are weak. They prey on others because it makes them think they're strong. They have no sense of integrity or honor."

"Um… okay," said Julia, looking at Liane strangely. "What are all your names, by the way? I'm Julia, who are you?"

"Heidi Schbeiker," said Heidi, shaking her hand.

"Chang Liane."

"Megan Winner."

"Oh, are you really?" said Julia. "I heard your name being called but I thought I was hearing things… are you related at all to the guy who owns Winner Enterprises?"

"I suppose you're talking about Quatre Winner? I'm his daughter," said Megan.

"Oh my gosh. You're the richest family in the colonies and the Earth Sphere, aren't you? You must be like his heir or something."

"I don't know. I think my siblings and I get to split it or something when the time comes," said Megan. "Besides, my dad always says it's not about being rich; it's how you make a name for yourself on your own. I'm just an ordinary kid like you, really."

"Hate to break up the love fest, girls," said Heidi, "but it's almost time for lunch and I'm _starving_. Let's _go_!"

"The thing about Heidi," said Megan as Heidi dragged her, Julia, and Liane off to the mess hall, "is she's always thinking about food. You'd think she was facing a famine or something…"

"Well then, she doesn't have much to look forward to," said Julia. "I was here last year and the food isn't all that great…"

"Oh, you don't know Heidi. She'll eat _anything_…"

~*~

TBC…


	5. Confusion in the Mess Hall

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

When the four girls arrived at the mess hall, there was a long line of girls getting their food.

"Oh man," said Heidi, "it's going to take _forever_ to get our food!"

"You guys go ahead," said Megan. "We'll go get a table so you guys have someplace to sit. We'll get into line when it's not so long."

"Okay!" Heidi and Liane got into line, each grabbing a plate. The line slowly inched forward until they reached the actual food trays.

"Ugh, I don't like cheeseburgers," said the girl in front of Liane. She turned around. "I picked up the wrong thing… do you want this?"

"Sorry, I'm a vegetarian," said Liane. She did a double take at seeing the girl in front of her. "Wait… how'd you get in front of me?"

"Oh, I've been in front of you the whole time," said Sydney. "I think it's unfair for people to cut into lines, don't you?" She grabbed two hamburgers for herself, then a third burger. "Veggie burger?" she said, offering it to Liane.

"Sure. Thanks," said Liane, taking the burger. She looked at Sydney oddly. "When'd your hair get so long?"

"Oh, it's been long ever since I was a little kid; I _never_ cut it," said Sydney, tossing her braid and grabbing an orange soda. "Well, see ya!" she said, leaving the lunch line.

Liane frowned in puzzlement. Something was not quite right…

"Yuck, I hate cheeseburgers," said the girl behind Liane, putting the cheeseburger back on the tray and grabbing two hamburgers.

Liane turned around and did another double take. "Heidi! How'd you get behind me?"

"I've been behind you the whole time, Liane," said Heidi, grabbing an orange soda. "You know I never cut in front of people."

"Yeah," said Liane, "you just told me…"

~*~

Sydney scanned the rows and rows of tables for Alexandra and Gabrielle, who had been ahead of her in line and had already sat down somewhere.

Megan and Julia were sitting at the table directly in front of her. "Heidi! Heidi! Right here!" they called, waving their arms.

Sydney made no indication of recognizing them, continuing to scan the tables.

"Heidi! We're right here! Can't you see us?!" cried Megan.

Sydney finally spotted Alexandra and Gabrielle sitting at a table by a window at the far end of the mess hall. She waved to them and headed in their direction, walking right past Megan and Julia without any sign of acknowledgement.

Megan and Julia stared after her. "Why'd she ignore us?" said Julia.

Megan shrugged. "I have no idea…"

Just then, Heidi and Liane sat down next to them. "Hey," said Heidi, unwrapping a hamburger and taking a large bite.

Julia stared at her. "What're you… we just saw you go sit at another table," she said.

"Dunno what you're talking about… Liane and I just came from the lunch line," Heidi said thickly through a mouthful of burger.

"But you were… never mind," said Megan, shaking her head. She turned to Julia.

"Do you get the feeling something very strange is going on?"

~*~

Liane and Heidi were done with their burgers by the time the line cleared up enough for Megan and Julia to go through the line fairly quickly and get something to eat.

Megan and Julia got up to get their food. "Oh wait," said Heidi, "I want to go with you, I'm still kind of hungry, actually."

"I told you," Megan whispered to Julia, "she's a bottomless pit…"

Megan got into line, followed by Heidi and then Julia. Julia pointed to a greenish-brown substance that was labeled 'Chef's Surprise.' So Heidi would eat anything, huh? "Dare you to try that," she said.

Heidi gave the glop an appraising look. "Okay. May I have the Chef's Surprise, please?" she asked the lady behind the hood.

The lunch lady grabbed a ladle and scooped the 'surprise' onto a plate with a sickening splat. Julia gagged. "Thanks," said Heidi, taking the plate. She grabbed a spoon and fork. "Meet you back at the table, okay?" said Heidi.

Julia gaped. 'That girl's stomach must be made of steel,' she thought.

As she grabbed a chicken sandwich from the tray under the hood, Julia heard the girl behind her ask, "Can I have the Chef's Surprise, please?"

Julia turned around and stared at the girl. "Guess you really liked that stuff, huh?"

Sydney thanked the lunch lady as she took the plate. "Oh, I'm just back for seconds," she said. "I like trying new things… if they're serving it to us, it must be edible, right?"

Julia was thinking quite the opposite. "Um, I guess…" she said, leaving the lunch line with her chicken sandwich.

Her confused expression became even more confused upon seeing Heidi back at the table. "How'd you get back so quickly?" she asked.

"I was in front of you, remember?" said Heidi, eating a spoon of the green glop, whereupon Megan and Liane made disgusted faces. "What?" said Heidi. "I don't know what it is, but it tastes good. Sometimes you're better off not knowing, you know?"

Julia just sat down and began to eat her sandwich. Somehow, she couldn't shake off this weird feeling of déjà vu…

~*~

"I think I'm going to get some dessert," said Alexandra, getting up from their table.

"Really?" said Sydney as she spooned the glop into her mouth, which made Gabrielle gag. "Can you get me some too?"

"Sure," said Alexandra. "You too, Gabrielle?"

"No thanks," said Gabrielle, "I—I just lost my appetite…"

"Okay then, I'll be right back," said Alexandra, heading for the lunch line. When she got into line she stared at the girl in front of her. "How'd you get here in front of me?" she asked.

"Sorry, I was here before you," said Heidi, taking a plate with a slice of apple pie.

"Um… okay," said Alexandra. A little confused, she just took one plate for herself. She stared at Heidi's shoulder-length hair. "When'd you cut your hair?"

"Oh, I had it trimmed just before I left for camp; d'you like it?" asked Heidi.

Alexandra was so perplexed she didn't say anything. She just stared at Heidi with a strange look on her face. Sydney _never_ cut her hair…

Heidi misinterpreted Alexandra's confused expression as a look of disgust. "Okay, geez, if you don't like it just say so," she said, a little miffed, quickly leaving the lunch line.

Alexandra brought her plate back to where Sydney and Gabrielle were sitting and sat down. Sydney looked up. "Hey, where's my pie?"

"You were ahead of me in the line," said Alexandra. "Did you eat it already?"

"I was here the whole time," said Sydney. "Ask Gabrielle. I didn't get up once, did I?"

"No," said Gabrielle, shaking her head.

"That's not possible," said Alexandra, "I know I saw you there, I _talked_ to you… wait, your hair's long again…"

Sydney looked at Alexandra with a concerned expression. "Are you okay?"

~*~

After Alexandra and Sydney had finished their dessert, Gabrielle got up. "I'm just going to the bathroom, okay?" she said, heading for the bathroom doors at the other end of the mess hall.

As she approached the doors, they opened and Heidi came out. Gabrielle was startled. Wasn't Sydney still at the table? "Hi," said Gabrielle as she passed Heidi.

"Oh, hi," said Heidi, giving Gabrielle a friendly smile.

Gabrielle scratched her head, puzzled, as she went into the bathroom. Something was different about her; she just couldn't quite put her finger on it…

Gabrielle left the bathroom a few minutes later, only to pass Sydney going in. "Hey. Didn't you just go to the bathroom a few minutes ago?"

"No," said Sydney, looking at her strangely. "I'm going right now…"

"Really? I just saw you leaving as I was going in…" Gabrielle shook her head. "Never mind. I must be imagining things…"

"Yeah," said Sydney, "you must be…"

Gabrielle went back to their table and sat down next to Alexandra. Alexandra looked at her.

"I have this feeling that we're totally missing something…"

~*~

"So what do we do with our plates once we're done?" asked Sydney once she had returned from the bathroom.

"The counselors gather them over there," said Alexandra, nodding her head over to where Mariemaia was taking dirty dishes and putting them in a large bin.

"Okay then, let's get rid of these," said Sydney. "The sooner we do, the sooner we can get back to our cabin."

The three of them got up and brought their dishes over to Mariemaia. "Thanks," said Mariemaia as she took Sydney's dishes.

Sydney, Alexandra, and Gabrielle left the mess hall just as Megan, Julia, Liane, and Heidi got up from their table and brought their plates up to Mariemaia.

"More dishes, dear?" said Mariemaia as Heidi gave her her dishes.

"No, sorry, these are my only ones," said Heidi.

"Really?" said Mariemaia. "I could have sworn I saw you here already… Oh well, two hundred girls is a lot, you know, it can get pretty confusing sometimes…"

"That's okay," said Heidi, joining the others to go back to their cabin. Megan was right; Mariemaia _was_ a little crazy…

~*~

TBC…


	6. Deathscythe vs Deathscythe

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

A horrible honking noise blared throughout the campgrounds, shattering the peaceful quiet of the morning.

"Aaaaah!" Sydney yelled, promptly falling out of bed.

"Who's killing the elephant?" Alexandra shouted, bolting upright in bed. 

"No," Gabrielle yelled, covering her ears, "it's someone playing the trumpet! _Very_ badly!"

"Is that supposed to be reveille?" Alexandra asked, putting her pillow over her head.

"If it is, their intonation is shot!" said Gabrielle.

"Aaargh! Whatever it is, I'm going to stop it _right now_!" Sydney shouted, kicking her sheets off from her place on the floor and getting up, slamming the cabin door open with a bang. Alexandra and Gabrielle watched, stunned, as Sydney stomped out of the cabin, barefoot, and upon seeing the nearest speaker blaring the offending racket, climbing the pole and snapping the speaker off with her bare hands. She marched back to the cabin, the speaker dangling by its wires from one fist. She slammed the cabin door open, walked inside, slammed it shut, and dropkicked the speaker so it hit the opposite wall with a loud crash.

A sweet, placid expression returned to Sydney's face. "Girls, we're going to need an excuse."

~*~

"We're so sorry, Mariemaia, a bear must have gone and tore it off in the middle of the night," said Sydney, holding up the broken speaker, into which Gabrielle had artfully gouged several claw marks.

"Yeah, we found it this morning on our way to the bathrooms," said Alexandra.

Mariemaia took the broken speaker and looked at it. "How odd… we don't see any bears around this area anymore… I'll have the forest rangers look into it. As for the speaker, I'm afraid it'll take a while to fix… it's the only one around your area too, isn't it? You'll just have to figure out another way to wake up then; you won't be able to hear the reveille…"

"Oh! That's too bad," said Sydney, her face twitching.

"Yes…" said Mariemaia, shaking her head. "Oh well… since you girls are here, I might as well give you your schedule of activities for this week… I still have to go around to all the cabins… here you go, girls," she said, giving each of them a piece of paper. "You remain with your cabinmates; however, you'll get grouped with different cabins for different activities. As it so happens, I'm going to be your instructor for your first activity… mobile suit combat! See you soon!" she said, exiting the office.

The three girls looked at each other eagerly. "Mobile suit combat?!"

~*~

"I should have known," said Sydney, looking at the two helmets sitting next to each other on the table.

"Yeah, we should have," said Alexandra, looking at her schedule, "it says rec room on here under location, not 'big open field.'"

"And I was hoping to knock down some trees or something," said Sydney.

Mariemaia walked into the room, in which twenty other girls had gathered in addition to Sydney, Alexandra, and Gabrielle. "These, girls," she said, gesturing to the helmets, "are mobile suit combat simulators. The Preventers still occasionally use this technology. It is similar in design to the mobile doll control helmets used on the Battleship Libra in the first Eve War. 

"This allows you to choose a mobile suit or Gundam of any type and battle against an opponent, in the other helmet. You put this helmet on, and you see the inside of the cockpit of the suit. These gloves allow you to manipulate the virtual controls. The helmets transmit images of the battle to this screen here so that the rest of us can see what is going on. Unfortunately, these things are very expensive and we only have one set… I was thinking of having a tournament of some sort, after we learn the basics of using these things…"

Sydney cracked her knuckles, grinning wickedly. "Let me at 'em…"

~*~

"This sucks," said Heidi, looking at her schedule. "We don't even have our first activity until after lunch. And it's tying knots. Boooooorrrrinnggg…"

"But look," said Megan keenly, "we get to go fencing after that, with Mariemaia…"

"I much prefer a katana," said Liane, "but they wouldn't let me bring mine… of all the injustice…"

"At least you guys know how to fence," said Heidi. "I expect I'll get disarmed in two seconds…"

"Look, why don't we go to the rec room?" suggested Julia. "They've got all sorts of stuff in there… ping pong, shuffleboard, a dance room, and an arcade—"

"An arcade?" said Heidi eagerly. "I can do arcade games! Let's go! It beats sitting around in here…"

~*~

"Ooooh, what is that?" asked Heidi, pointing eagerly to a screen where twenty or so girls and Mariemaia were watching a Deathscythe whipping a Taurus as two girls in helmets stood several feet apart, their gloved hands making motions in the air.

"Oh, it's a new thing here at camp… supposed to simulate a real mobile suit battle," said Julia.

"Seriously?!" Liane whipped out her schedule. "Drat… we don't have it until Friday!"

The four girls watched, the arcade forgotten, as the Deathscythe sliced the Taurus right in half. Amid cheers, Mariemaia raised the arm of one girl, still in her helmet as the other girl took hers off. "The winner and still undefeated champion, Sydney Maxwell!"

Alexandra and Gabrielle applauded the loudest, even though they had lost to her; Sydney had managed to defeat Alexandra by knocking her Wing Zero buster rifle out of her grasp, then grabbing it and shooting Alexandra down with it. Sydney was also able to beat Gabrielle by biding her time until Gabrielle had used up all her ammo, and then going in and slicing the head off of her Heavyarms.

"So, do we have any more challengers?" asked Mariemaia.

Heidi went forward and took the helmet from the other girl, putting it on. "Sure. I'll give it a try."

Mariemaia looked a little surprised as Heidi put the gloves on. "Um… all right…"

Sydney smirked under her helmet. "Do you even know how to use one of these things?"

"Unfortunately for you," said Heidi, flexing her fingers within the gloves, "my mom is a Preventer, so yes, I do. I'm quite proficient with it actually. Which mobile suit are you choosing to fight in?"

"I'm sticking with Deathscythe," said Sydney.

"Good choice," said Heidi. "Hmm… I think I'll go with Deathscythe too, actually, do you mind?"

Sydney was taken aback but wouldn't let it show. "No. D'you wanna pick the location?"

"Yes I would; space all right with you?" Heidi asked lightly.

"My best surroundings," said Sydney as Heidi's Deathscythe appeared on her screen. "You ready to lose?"

"I don't lose," said Heidi in a low voice.

"Neither do I," said Sydney in the same deadly voice.

And the battle began.

Vernier engines at full power, both girls charged toward each other, scythes raised high. The blades collided in a shower of sparks and locked together, each girl trying to overpower the other. They broke apart and Sydney immediately charged again. Heidi brought her scythe up to block again but Sydney swung her scythe up in front of her and with a triumphant "Ha!" sliced the staff of Heidi's scythe in half.

"You're in way over your head!" Sydney said mockingly.

"This battle isn't over yet!" shouted Heidi, throwing the scraps aside as Sydney drew back for another strike. Heidi shot her buster shield at the right leg of Sydney's Deathscythe, severing it completely.

Sydney's Deathscythe went into a spin as she suddenly lost control and let go of her scythe. Heidi flew forward and quickly caught it. She drew back, spinning the scythe over her head in a high arc and brought it down, slicing Sydney's Deathscythe in half.

The screen inside Sydney's helmet went white with the explosion and then black. Sydney pulled off her helmet angrily. "Dammit! I can't believe I lost!"

"Looks like we have a new winner! Heidi Schbeiker!" announced Mariemaia. "Why don't the two of you shake hands?" said Mariemaia as Heidi took off her helmet, her face flushed with triumph.

Sydney refused to turn around as she took off her gloves. This was too much; she had already lost, and now it was just adding to the humiliation by having to shaking hands with the person she had lost to…

"Sydney…" Mariemaia said sternly.

Sydney huffed angrily and turned around.

Both girls froze.

It was like looking into a mirror. The same shade of blue-black hair, the shape of their faces, the arch of their eyebrows, the same slight pout in their lips; their bangs even fell over their eyes in the same exact way. Identical violet eyes met for the first time as Heidi and Sydney reached out to shake hands. The moment they touched, it was as though an electric shock passed between the two of them. They quickly drew back their hands.

Everyone around them had gone quiet, stunned at the resemblance between the two.

"Why is everyone staring?" asked Sydney, shaking herself out of her shock.

"Duh, can't you see it? How much we look alike?" said Heidi.

"Really?" said Sydney. "Let me look at you. Turn around."

Heidi turned around, feeling a bit annoyed.

"Okay, now to the side… and to the other side," said Sydney. "Sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, your ears stick out, one of your eyes is slightly bigger than the other, your nose is bigger than mine, and your teeth… well, they have braces to fix that kind of thing."

Alexandra and Gabrielle giggled.

Heidi's eyes narrowed. "When was the last time you washed your hair? Bird's not ready to fly from that nest, I take it?"

That did it. Sydney leapt at Heidi. "Don't you _dare_ diss the braid!"

"Break it up! Break it up!" Mariemaia shouted, barely managing to pry them apart. "Heidi… Sydney…" she said, looking from one to the other. "Er… Sydney… Heidi…" She shook her head. "Who is who, again?"

"Sydney's the one with the rat's tail for a braid!" shouted Heidi, trying to claw at Sydney.

"Heidi's the one who had to depend on luck to win a mobile suit battle!" Sydney yelled.

The lunch bell rang. "Girls! Girls!" yelled Mariemaia. "Off to lunch, all of you! And I'd better not see any more fights between the two of you or you'll be packing before you can say Gundam, got it?"

Sydney and Heidi desisted, although they continued to glare at each other.

"Let's go eat lunch," Sydney said to Alexandra and Gabrielle, "she's not worth my time."

"Oh, stick to the salads, by the way, you can stand to lose a couple of pounds," Heidi called after her.

Sydney spun around and raised her middle finger at Heidi.

"Hey! She flicked me off!" Heidi glared angrily at Sydney's retreating figure. "Ugh, imagine if we were sisters," she said. "What a nightmare that would be…"

~*~

TBC…


	7. A Declaration of War

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

"I can't believe she beat me," Sydney said sulkily, sitting outside their cabin one morning, their activity having been canceled, several days after the mobile suit battle with Heidi.

"Are you still going on about that?" asked Alexandra, turning the page of the book she was reading.

"I'm the daughter of a Gundam pilot, for Pete's sake, and I _lost_!" said Sydney. "And then she made fun of my hair and said I was fat! I'm going to make her pay! She's gonna learn that Sydney Maxwell is _not_ a person to mess with!"

"Yeah, but Mariemaia said you'd be sent home if there's another fight between the two of you," said Gabrielle.

"I know, that's why I can't just beat her up, and believe me, I'd really like to," said Sydney. She got up and began to pace, frowning in thought. "Think, Sydney, think. There's gotta be a way around this…"

"Just let it go, Sydney," said Gabrielle, as a squirrel scurried down the tree she was sitting against and landed on her shoulder. "Well, hello there," she said, the squirrel chittering as it ran down her arm and into her lap. Gabrielle petted it affectionately. "Sorry, I don't have any food for you, little guy…"

Sydney stared at Gabrielle and the squirrel, suddenly realizing something. "Gabrielle, you're good with animals, right?"

"It's something I got from my dad," said Gabrielle.

"Perfect. I _so_ have a great idea," Sydney said excitedly. "It's so bad, it's good. Oh, this is rich."

"What?" Alexandra asked, looking up from her book.

"Well, I was thinking, Gabrielle got a squirrel to go in her lap just like that, right? So what if she caught a skunk, and we let it loose in Heidi's cabin?"

"A _skunk_? Are you _crazy_?" Gabrielle exclaimed. "No way. Nuh uh."

"It won't spray you unless they're threatened or scared, right?"

"But that's animal cruelty," said Gabrielle. "The poor thing will be trapped in there…"

"It's only for a couple of hours until they get back from their activity," said Sydney. "And if all goes well, it'll trash the place trying to get out, and spray the first person who goes in there… oooh, I hope it's Heidi," she said with relish.

"Are there even any skunks in this part of the country?" asked Alexandra.

"Sure there are," said Sydney. "I'm counting on it."

Gabrielle made a look of distaste. "But it's a _skunk_…"

"Well, they're just like squirrels with stripes, right?"

"Not really…"

"Oh, come on…"

~*~

"It's on my head," said Alexandra. "The freaking skunk is On. My. Head."

"I guess it thought if your hair as a kind of… nest," said Sydney, looking at the skunk, which had attached itself to Alexandra's thick brown hair.

"Very funny…"

"Don't shake it off," said Gabrielle, "it'll spray all of us. The cabin's just a little further, anyhow…"

"_Get it off my head_…"

The three girls went up the steps to the door of the Deathscythe cabin. Sydney pulled a bobby pin from her hair and expertly picked the lock open, the three of them stepping inside. Sydney opened a window as Gabrielle proceeded to extract the skunk out of Alexandra's hair.

"Okay, Alexandra, just kneel down a bit… that's right… I'm going to take the skunk out of your hair now, okay? Try not to move," said Gabrielle, slowly prying the skunk's paws, one by one, out of Alexandra's locks.

"OW!"

"Shut _up_, you might scare it, and you know what'll happen if you do…"

After the skunk was successfully removed from Alexandra's hair, Gabrielle set the skunk down on one of the beds. "Welcome to your new home, buddy," she said. The three girls exited the cabin and shut the door behind them. "Now what?" she asked.

Alexandra shot her deathglare at Sydney and Gabrielle. "You guys are going to help me wash my hair…"

~*~

"My whole body is aching," moaned Heidi, as she, Liane, Megan, and Julia hobbled back to their cabin from a long hike.

"Tell me about it," said Megan. "I'm all icky and sweaty… once I get my stuff from the cabin I'm going straight to the showers."

The four of them went up the stairs to their cabin. They suddenly heard a loud thump from inside their cabin. The girls leapt back from the door. 

"Something's inside our cabin," said Liane.

Another series of thumps came from inside the cabin. "What is it?" Julia whispered.

"I don't know," said Heidi, turning the doorknob, "the door's unlocked, though… we'd better see what it is."

Heidi opened the door.

A horrible smell assailed their nostrils. The cabin was a complete mess. Their belongings were strewn everywhere, and there were what suspiciously looked like droppings on the floor. Bed sheets were torn and coming off of the beds, and several pillows had been clawed open, feathers scattered all over the floor. Several shoes looked like they had been gnawed upon, and holes had been chewed into some of their clothes.

And there was a skunk in the middle of the floor.

All four girls screamed and chaos ensued. "Get it out of here!" Megan yelled.

"Whatever you do, don't let it spray!" shouted Liane.

The girls ran around the cabin, trying to shoo the skunk out the door, but, disoriented and confused, the skunk didn't seem to understand that the door was the way out, instead continuing to run around in circles.

Heidi was getting frustrated. "Get the hell out of here!" she yelled, aiming a kick at the skunk.

This was a BIG mistake.

The skunk bared its sharp little teeth at Heidi and hissed. It then turned around, lifted its cute little black and white striped tail, and _fired_.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The other three girls ran, screaming, out of the cabin, the skunk at their heels. Heidi stomped out of the cabin, reeking of skunk. She spotted Sydney, Alexandra, and Gabrielle sitting on the steps of their cabin, the three of them in stitches of laughter. Sydney waved merrily. "Smells nice, doesn't it?"

Heidi saw red. "I HATE YOU SYDNEY MAXWELL!!!"

~*~

"You're in luck," said Mariemaia, "we were supposed to have spaghetti today, but the cooks have agreed to cook something else so you could have this," she said, holding up two large buckets of tomato sauce. "There's more, could you go to the kitchens and get them, girls?" she said to Liane, Megan, and Julia. "We've got a water trough behind the lodge you can use… come with me, Heidi…"

Fifteen minutes later, Heidi was sitting in a water trough full of tomato sauce, trying to get the stench out. Liane, Megan, and Julia sat on a bench nearby, looking at Heidi with sympathy.

"Boy that sucks," said Julia.

"It's that Sydney girl's fault," said Heidi. "I saw her and her friends laughing at me… bet you they were the ones who put the skunk in our cabin…"

"Here they are now," said Liane as Sydney, Alexandra, and Gabrielle approached them with self-satisfied smirks on their faces.

"Come to gloat?" snapped Heidi.

"Exactly," said Sydney. "How's the bath?"

"This is all your fault, isn't it?" shouted Heidi. "You put that skunk in there!"

"Oh, no one will be able to prove that," said Sydney. "Mariemaia thinks the skunk got in through one of the windows."

"Skunks don't have thumbs!"

"She thinks one of you left it open by accident," added Alexandra.

"Kisama! You set that up!" Liane said angrily.

"Maybe, but we're certainly not going to admit to it. Enjoy your bath," said Sydney, the three of them walking away.

Heidi scooped up some tomato sauce in her hand and aimed it at Sydney. It hit her right in the seat of her shorts with a splat. Sydney turned around, an angry expression on her face.

Heidi smirked. "Consider that my declaration of war!"

~*~

TBC…


	8. The Prank Wars Begin

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

A few days after the skunk disaster, Heidi, Megan, Liane, and Julia were helping put canoes away, having just finished their canoeing activity, and not in any particular hurry to return to their cabin, which still had a slight skunk odor.

"They should kick those girls out of their cabin, make them go in ours," said Heidi. "They were the ones who put the skunk in our cabins; they practically admitted it. We should get their cabin; we were the victims."

"It is an injustice that they have escaped without punishment for doing such a thing," said Liane. "Those girls have no honor."

"I say, why get mad when you can get even?" said Julia.

"Oh, I definitely will be," said Heidi. "I'm just trying to figure out the best way how…"

"Girls, could you put that last canoe away for me, please?" their canoeing instructor, a counselor named Holly, asked them.

"Sure, no problem," said Heidi.

"Thanks. Just be sure to lock the shed, okay? Here's the lock… I've gotta run, I'm late for my next activity," said Holly, leaving the canoe docks.

Heidi looked at the canoe and suddenly had an idea. "You guys want to get back at Sydney and her friends, right?"

"Yeah," the other girls chorused.

"Well then, here's what we do…"

~*~

"Man, that was boring," said Sydney as she, Gabrielle, and Alexandra were returning to their cabin after spending an hour identifying trees by their leaves.

"Why would I care about the different shapes of leaves, anyway?" said Alexandra. "What a huge waste of my time."

"Let's all get changed and then go down for lunch, okay?" said Sydney.

"Agreed." Sydney nearly tripped over a pair of canoe paddles as the three girls went up the steps to their cabin. "What are these doing here?" she asked irritably, kicking them out of the way.

"Hold on, there's a note," said Gabrielle, picking up a piece of paper and unfolding it. "The Great Outdoors… Indoors. Enjoy your stay."

"What kind of a stupid note is that?" asked Alexandra.

"Who cares?" Sydney opened the door. "Oh my god, there's a canoe in here!"

A full-size canoe went from one end of the cabin to the other, adrift in a floor completely covered with leaves. Gabrielle went over to her bed. "There are pine branches in my bed!" she exclaimed.

Alexandra found the contents of her duffel bag dumped all over her bed. "All my stuff is completely soaked!" she cried. "Aaaugh, it smells like egg water!"

"There's dirt in my shoes!" shouted Gabrielle. "All of them!"

Alexandra approached Sydney's bed with some trepidation, almost afraid of what might have been done to it. What she found was not a pretty sight. "Oh my god. Sydney, you'd better take a look at this."

"What?" Sydney went over to where Alexandra was standing and immediately saw, 'what.'

About thirty large, fat earthworms were crawling around on Sydney's bedsheets.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Sydney screamed at the top of her lungs. She leapt over the canoe and scrambled up onto the nearest chair, standing upon it. "Get them away from me! _Get them away from me_!!!" she screamed, high and panicky. "What the hell are they?! Don't let them touch me!"

Gabrielle peered at the writhing mass of worms. "Haven't you seen an earthworm before?"

"I'm from the _colonies! Of course I haven't!"_

"It's okay, they're extremely gross, but totally harmless," said Gabrielle. "Calm down, Sydney, they won't hurt you."

"Get them away from me!"

"Just come down from the chair," Alexandra said in a slow, calm voice. "We'll go outside, you can calm down; Gabrielle will get rid of the worms."

It took some convincing, but Sydney finally agreed to come off the chair if Gabrielle got rid of the worms. So Gabrielle bundled up the worms in the sheet, and after assuring Sydney that the bundle would not come undone, Sydney got off the chair and the three of them went outside.

The moment they stepped out of their cabin, the four girls sitting on the steps of the Deathscythe cabin burst into laughter.

"Get them away from me! Get them away from me!" Heidi mocked in the exact same voice as Sydney's. The other three girls laughed harder.

Sydney stomped off angrily, not saying a word. Alexandra and Gabrielle had to run to catch up to her. Sydney didn't stop until they were nearly at the main lodge. Her eyes were nearly black with fury. 

"That's _it," she said in a low, deadly voice. "Time to bring out the heavy artillery."_

~*~

Later that night…

Three figures, completely dressed in black, tiptoed stealthily up the steps to the Deathscythe cabin. One was carrying a large duffle bag, and another laden with two large buckets. The third crept up to the door and picked the lock open with a bobby pin. The lock clicked and the door opened, the three of them freezing momentarily when the door creaked.

When nobody seemed to stir, the three girls crept inside. The one with the duffel bag set it down without a sound and slowly unzipped it. She pulled out a can of shaving cream. "Which one?" Alexandra whispered.

"The blond," said Sydney, going over to the bag and pulling out a container of engine grease and several bottles of tempera paint. "Remember, just the four girls. We don't really have anything against the others. They shouldn't get hurt too much, provided they don't step out of their beds tomorrow… Gabrielle, you can start on the Chinese girl. Heidi…" she said, hovering evilly over Heidi's sleeping form, "is mine."

Gabrielle nodded and pulled a bottle of honey out of the duffel bag and proceeded to squirt its contents into Liane's Chinese slippers.

Sydney began to smear war paint designs all over Heidi's face with the engine grease. Alexandra emptied the can of shaving cream on Megan and went back to the duffel bag, pulled out a bottle of chocolate syrup, and began squeezing it all over Julia. Gabrielle put the empty bottle of honey back into the duffel bag and took out the container of itching powder, and, making sure to get none on herself, sprinkled some on Liane. 

Sydney took her tempera paint bottles and began to squirt stripes on Heidi's pajamas. "Okay, Gabrielle, you've got good balance, you can grab the yarn and start stringing it all over the cabin. Alexandra, take the can of silly string and spray it all over the ceiling. Just don't hit Gabrielle."

"Right." Alexandra took the can of silly string and proceeded to coat the ceiling so that chunks of silly string dangled from it. Gabrielle took the rolls of yarn and started stringing them back and forth between the beds until she had made her way up to the front of the cabin. 

The cabin now looked like a giant multicolored spider web, with four victims covered in various messy substances. "Got everything?" asked Sydney.

The two other girls nodded. "Good." Sydney grabbed the first bucket. "Here we go," she said, pouring vegetable oil all over the floor of the cabin. 

The three girls then went back outside, bringing the duffel bag full of now-empty bottles and the second bucket. "Okay… up," whispered Sydney. Alexandra and Gabrielle each took one of her feet and hoisted Sydney up, cheerleader-style. Sydney took the second bucket and rigged it over the door so that it would dump its contents on the unlucky person who would open it the next morning. 

"Whoever first opens this door," said Sydney as Alexandra and Gabrielle brought her down, "is going to be a different color for the next few days…"

The three girls fairly skipped with glee back to their cabin, thrilled with their achievement. They changed out of their black clothes into their pajamas and clambered into their beds. 

"Good job, ladies," said Sydney. "Now all we have to do is wait until morning. Remember to wake up early, girls… I wanna be there when they wake up…"

Suppressed giggles echoed within the Wing Zero cabin.

~*~

TBC…


	9. The Plan Backfires Badly

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

A bird chirped merrily outside Heidi's window the next morning, completely oblivious to the chaos that was about to take place inside the cabin.

Heidi opened one eye, squinting against the sun that was pouring in through the window. Her face felt strangely stiff and sticky. She gingerly touched her cheek with one hand and brought it away, staring in horror at the gooey black substance on her fingers. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She bolted upright in bed and found herself completely covered in paint. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The rest of the girls in the cabin were instantly jolted into wakefulness by Heidi's screams. Julia started to rub sleep from her eyes and smeared chocolate syrup all over her face. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Liane opened her eyes and found strange white powder on her silk pajamas. She sat up and absently scratched at an itch on her left arm. Then she scratched an itch on her right arm. Suddenly, a horrible itching sensation began spreading all over her body. She frantically started scratching everywhere on her skin, clawing at her pajamas. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Megan sat up, dripping in shaving cream. She found a mirror next to her pillow and picked it up, looking at her reflection. What made her scream was not the fact that she was covered head to toe with shaving cream, but that the top fork of her eyebrows had been shaved off. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY EYEBROWS!!! _MY EYEBROWS_!!!!!!!!!!" she screamed hysterically.

One of the other girls attempted to get out of bed, her feet slipping on the oil. Screaming, she slid for a few feet, tripped on the string, and painfully fell to the floor. Another girl tried to help her up, only to slip and land right on top of her. "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Extremely desperate to get to the showers to wash off the itching powder, Liane started to put on her Chinese slippers and found her feet stuck in honey. Yanking them off, she lost her balance and fell right into the center of the web and got hopelessly tangled in it, trying to extricate herself and keep scratching at the same time. "Somebody help me!!!"

Julia got out of bed to try and help Liane, only to slip on a combination of vegetable oil and chocolate syrup and sliding right into Liane. Now both of them were tangled in a combination of chocolate syrup, yarn, and itching powder.

"You're supposed to be helping, not making it worse! And you're getting chocolate syrup all over me!" Liane yelled.

"Stop moving then, you're only getting us tangled in the string more!" Julia cried.

"HOW CAN I?!" Liane bellowed. "IT _ITCHES_!!!"

Heidi had managed to find a towel and tried to wipe the engine grease off of her face, only to smear it more. She flung the towel away from her, screaming with anger and frustration. 

"That girl is without a doubt, the lowest, most horrible creature ever to walk the Earth Sphere and the colonies!"

~*~

Outside, Sydney, Alexandra, and Gabrielle were peering in through one of the windows, expressions of mischievous delight on their faces. 

"This is priceless," said Sydney. "Man, I wish I had a camera. This is working out so much better than I had hoped it would."

The three girls slapped high-fives.

Just then, Mariemaia came walking up the path, clipboard in hand. "Good morning, girls!" she said cheerfully.

"Good morning, Mariemaia," the girls responded without looking up, not daring to miss seeing any of the bedlam inside the Deathscythe cabin. Then, a second later, they looked at each other, dismayed. "Mariemaia?!?!"

Mariemaia climbed up the steps to Heidi's cabin. "Deathscythe cabin… surprise inspection!" she said, reaching for the door handle.

"NO!!! Don't go in there!" Sydney cried, dashing up the stairs to her.

Mariemaia looked at Sydney. "Excuse me?"

"You—you—you can't," stuttered Sydney, "um, um, uh… that is, uh… one—one of the girls got sick last night. It's a big mess. Save yourself the trouble. It's not pretty."

Heidi managed to make her way over to the door, wondering what Sydney was up to.

Mariemaia looked concerned. "Well, if someone is ill, then I must help," she said. She started to open the door, not realizing that she was pulling on a string that was attached to the bucket directly above her. The bucket began to tilt precariously.

Sydney's eyes darted up to the bucket and back to Mariemaia. "No, really, you should let go of that door, I insist. We think she might have eaten something bad in her food last night," she babbled. "It's almost breakfast, you really should go back to check the kitchens; we really wouldn't want the entire camp to have a case of food poisoning…"

Heidi watched Sydney's eyes go up to the bucket. "Actually, we're perfectly fine in here. Unless Sydney Maxwell knows something we don't," she said, glaring at Sydney. "Please come in, Miss Mariemaia."

And with that, Mariemaia opened the door, tipping the bucket. Sydney and Heidi watched in horror as green dye splashed down on Mariemaia, completely dousing her. 

Mariemaia stood frozen for several seconds, green dye dripping off the end of her nose. She then turned so she could look at both Heidi and Sydney. She had a terrible expression on her face that was reminiscent of one of the personalities of her adoptive mother.

"You two," she said in a low, angry voice. "In my office. Now."

~*~

Sydney and Heidi stood side-by-side before Mariemaia in her office. Mariemaia paced back and forth in front of them, still wiping off dye with a now-green towel.

"I have _never_," she said, cold and clipped, "seen such reprehensible, _despicable_ behavior from two sisters who should be—"

"Um, we're not sisters," said Heidi.

"We're not related at all," added Sydney.

"We've never even seen each other before," emphasized Heidi.

"Really?" said Mariemaia, as she stopped pacing, raising an eyebrow. "This whole look-alike thing has been the problem, hasn't it? Well, I told you what would happen if another incident occurred between you two. Both of you shall be sent home. _Immediately_."

There was a long pause.

"Miss Mariemaia… may I please say something?" Sydney ventured.

"What?"

"See, nobody's at home right now… my dad's away on a Sweepers mission… he's in the depths of space right now, and I don't really know how to contact him."

"And," Heidi chimed in, "my mom's away on a Preventers mission, and everything's classified, so I don't know how to contact her either."

"You mean I'm _stuck_ with the two of you?" Mariemaia threw her hands up in frustration. "Why me?" She resumed her pacing. "All right then, I'm just going to have to be creative…"

Sydney and Heidi did not like the way Mariemaia said the word _creative_…

~*~

Half an hour later, Mariemaia was leading Sydney and Heidi on a long, winding path up a tall, steep hill. Both girls were carrying their duffel bags with all their belongings, struggling to keep up with Mariemaia.

Just as they thought their legs were going to fall off, Mariemaia stopped in front of a cabin that obviously looked like it had not been used in a long time. The sign above the door read 'ISOLATION.' Mariemaia took a key out of her pocket and opened the door.

The door creaked as it opened, revealing just two beds and a table. "Welcome to your new home, girls," said Mariemaia. "We still have four weeks left at camp and you two are going to spend every single day of them _together_. You'll eat together, live together, and do all your activities together. The two of you will either figure out how to get along or you'll punish yourselves better than even I could." At that, Mariemaia left.

Heidi stomped inside, followed by Sydney.

"This is all your fault, you know," Heidi hissed.

"Yeah, well, if you hadn't asked her to open the door, none of this would have happened," said Sydney.

"You know what, I refuse to keep talking to a loser like you," said Heidi. She turned around and neatly began unpacking her things.

Sydney glared at her. "Well, whatever you say to me is worthless anyhow, so I don't need to talk to you either." She unzipped her duffel bag and shook its contents out onto a pile on the floor.

And at that, the two girls settled themselves in for what was going to be a _long_ four weeks…

~*~

TBC…


	10. Not Just a Coincidence

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

A week into their isolation period, Heidi and Sydney still hadn't spoken a single word to each other. One day, a large thunderstorm was brewing and all outdoor activities had been canceled. Heidi and Sydney were sitting inside their cabin, each cross-legged on a bed. Outside, the rain and the wind lashed at the small cabin, rattling the windows.

The lights in their cabin suddenly flickered and went out. "Great," Heidi said out loud to herself, "how am I supposed to paint the rest of my toes in the dark?"

"I have a lamp," said Sydney, grabbing her Coleman lamp and fumbling with several matches before she got it lit. "Don't even think for a second I'm being nice to you. I need it to see too."

"Fine with me," said Heidi. She went over to Sydney's bed so she could be closer to the light. She watched as Sydney undid her braid and began to brush out her long, waist length hair. "You have really pretty hair," Heidi said without thinking.

"Oh thanks," said Sydney. "I go through like a bottle of shampoo a week." She looked at the bottle of nail polish in Heidi's hands. "What color is that?"

"Lime green," said Heidi. "It's my favorite color."

"Cool. It's my favorite color too," said Sydney. "D'you think I could borrow it when you're done?"

"I guess," said Heidi. All of a sudden, a loud clap of thunder shook the cabin, starling them both. The two girls screamed and without realizing it, clung to each other in fright. They quickly broke apart, laughing nervously, neither willing to admit that for the first time, they were grateful for each other's company.

"Sorry," said Heidi, "I've been afraid of thunderstorms since I was a little kid."

"So have I," said Sydney. "The weather system once malfunctioned on our colony when I was five and we had thunderstorms for a week. My dad says I was so terrified that I was practically super-glued to him the whole time, even when he had to go and fix it."

"You're from the colonies?" asked Heidi. "That's so cool. I've never even been to a colony. I'd love to go into space."

"Oh, you really should go, it's the best… Want to see a picture of my house?" asked Sydney, fishing around in her duffel bag. "My dad owns a repair garage and salvage company, so we live next to this huge junkyard… here you go," she said, showing Heidi the picture.

Heidi looked at the pile of scrap that was towering over the house. "Cool. I've always wanted to learn to fix other machines like cars and stuff."

"I'd like to learn how to fix a computer," said Sydney, "my dad always keeps crashing ours. That's him," she said, pointing to the back of someone with a long chestnut braid. "I was taking a picture of him in front of our house, when there was a huge crash in the junkyard and he turned around just as I took the picture. He's the coolest. He's just acts like one big kid. He tells the funniest jokes and eats like a pig. He's super nice and friendly to everybody."

A weird feeling passed through Heidi as she looked at the man in the picture. She shivered.

"Something wrong?" asked Sydney.

"No… just cold," Heidi added. 

The lights flickered back on. "Finally," said Sydney, putting the lamp out and peering outside. "Looks like the storm's stopped. Want to get something to eat?"

"I'm not really hungry." Heidi stayed where she was, biting her lip, with this strange feeling that she was missing something very important. "Sydney, how old are you?"

"Oh, I just turned eleven on April 8th," said Sydney.

Heidi's eyes went wide. "So did I."

"Really? Weird," said Sydney. She sat back down next to Heidi, swinging her legs. "So, what's your dad like?"

"Actually, I've never met my dad," said Heidi. "He and my mom split up when I was a baby. My mom never talks about him. I don't even know his name. It's like he never existed or something."

"Oh, that's too bad," said Sydney. "If it makes you feel any better, I don't have a mom. My parents got divorced when I was a baby too. My dad just gets this really sad look in his eyes whenever I ask about my mom, so I kind of just avoid mentioning her, for his sake. I know she was really pretty, though. My dad once caught me looking at a picture of my mom in his drawer, so he decided to give it to me. It was taken just after the war, she's just like, sixteen or something…"

"I hardly know anything about my dad," said Heidi. "I once tried to hack into the Preventers files to look for information about him, but my mom designed the computer system, and even I can't get through it. I kept bugging her about my dad though, so she finally gave in and gave me a picture of him. It's the only one I have of my dad. It's pretty old and beat up… I've always wondered what the other half of it was…"

"What do you mean?" asked Sydney.

"Well, for some reason, I don't even have a complete picture," said Heidi, "it's ripped right down the middle…"

Sydney's jaw dropped. "Right down the _middle_?"

"Yeah," said Heidi. "What about it?"

Sydney went over to her pile of stuff and rummaged through it, taking out a picture and clutching it to her chest. "Because mine's torn right down the middle too."

Heidi ran over to her duffel bag and began wildly tossing things left and right. "This is beyond weird. We both look alike, we both have the same birthday, we both are afraid of thunderstorms, and we both have the same favorite color. I only have a mom; you only have a dad. I've never met my mom, and you've never met your dad. You have only one old picture of your mom, I have one old picture of my dad, and both pictures are torn right down the middle." She carefully took her torn photo out of a small box and turned around, holding it to her chest. She walked back to where Sydney was and took a deep breath. "On the count of three, we'll show them to each other, okay?"

Sydney nodded nervously. "Okay."

"One…"

"…two…"

"…three!"

At the same time, Heidi and Sydney held their pictures out to each other. The torn edges of their photos fit together exactly, forming a complete picture. A grinning Duo Maxwell, wearing a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt, stood with his arm around the shoulders of a laughing Hilde Schbeiker, the pink beret on her head slightly askew. 

"That's my mom…" said Heidi.

"That's my dad…" said Sydney.

The two girls looked up from the photo and stared at each other in shock.

Sydney spoke first. "If my dad is your dad, and your mom is my mom, and we both have the same birthday, then that makes us… sisters."

"Sisters?!" exclaimed Heidi. "We're not just sisters, we're _twins_!!!"

Both Sydney's and Heidi's eyes filled up with tears. The two sisters suddenly started to cry and hugged, sobbing. They pulled back to look at each other again. Heidi giggled, then Sydney giggled. They both began laughing and hugged again.

"I can't believe it. I have a sister," said Sydney. "An identical twin sister. This is the most completely amazing wonderful thing that has ever happened to me."

"It all feels… almost unreal," said Heidi. "I've always had this feeling that there was something else my mom… our mom wasn't telling me. Something really important. But I never imagined it would be this."

"Me neither," said Sydney. "I can't believe they split us up like this. When were they planning on telling us?"

"I don't know," said Heidi, "but they must have had a really bad fight for them to do something this drastic. Mom can be incredibly stubborn when she wants to be."

"Tell me all about her," said Sydney, "what's she like?"

"Her name is Hilde Schbeiker," said Heidi. "She looks about the same in the picture, only she keeps her hair longer now, down to her shoulders like mine. She's the computer expert at Preventers. She designed the entire computer system and all the security codes. It's completely hackproof. She piloted mobile suits in the Eve Wars and hacked into Battleship Libra and stole data for the Gundam pilots."

"Then that must be how she met dad," said Sydney, "he was Deathscythe's pilot. Gundam pilot 02."

"Whoa whoa whoa," said Heidi. "02? Duo Maxwell? My dad is Duo Maxwell?!"

"Yeah, didn't you know that?"

"No, Mom never told me his name," said Heidi. "All the information on the Gundam pilots is classified. Like I said, the Preventers database is completely hackproof; I couldn't get into it if I tried, and believe me, I have. I mean, I know their names, my friends Megan and Liane are daughters of two of the Gundam pilots, but I never thought… I never considered… that one of them could be my dad. I can't believe I never saw it before." 

They lapsed into silence once again, staring at each other as though they were looking at one another for the first time. Sydney began to play with a chain on her neck.

"What's that necklace you're wearing?" asked Heidi.

"Oh, it's a cross," said Sydney, pulling out a gold cross from under her shirt. "I got it when I was born. It has my name 'Sydney' engraved on the back."

"I got one when I was born too," said Heidi. "Only it's got 'Heidi' engraved on the back."

"Dad's got a gold cross too," said Sydney. "That must be why we have them. He must have gotten them for us."

Heidi suddenly thought of something and bit her lip nervously. "Sydney… Dad hasn't remarried, has he?"

"Oh, no way," said Sydney. "He hasn't even come close. He always says I'm his only babe."

"Mom's never remarried either," said Heidi. "Oh my God. Do you realize what this means?"

"What?"

"Secretly," said Heidi, "in the deepest part of their hearts, whether they know it or not, they must still be in love with each other."

Sydney nodded in agreement. "And that's why they haven't remarried."

"Exactly," said Heidi. "Which means there's still a chance…"

~*~

TBC…


	11. The Trap is Set

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

The twins spent the rest of the day getting to know each other, talking constantly, much to everyone's astonishment. It wasn't until very late that the girls went to bed that night, tired but perfectly happy. The torn photo of their parents hung on the wall between their beds, the two halves taped back together.

In the wee hours of the next morning…

"I am a _GENIUS_!!!"

Sydney bolted upright in bed, kicking off her sheets and dashing over to Heidi's bed. "Heidi! _Heidi_! Wake up!" she exclaimed, shaking her sister. "Wake up, I've got a _brilliant_ idea!"

Heidi groaned and opened her eyes blearily. "Sydney, it's two in the morning, what's so important?" she asked, sitting up.

"Wait till you hear this," said Sydney, positively beaming with excitement. "I've come up with the perfect plan. It's so brilliant, it's scary."

"What is it already?" asked Heidi.

"Well, you've always wanted to meet Dad, right?"

"My whole life," said Heidi.

"Right. And I've always wanted to meet Mom. I kept thinking and thinking, there's got to be a way we can meet them. And then it hit me. We can…" Sydney paused dramatically, "…switch places."

This did not have quite the effect she expected.

"_What?!?_" cried Heidi.

"You can teach me to be you, and I'll teach you to be me," Sydney said eagerly. "We can pull it off… we're twins, right?"

"Have you lost your mind?!" exclaimed Heidi. "We'd be in loads of trouble once Mom and Dad found out!"

"See, see, that's the best part," said Sydney. "Sooner or later, they're going to figure out that they have the wrong twin… and when they do, they're going to have to _unswitch us. And to do that…"_

Heidi suddenly understood. "…they're going to have to meet again…"

"…face to face…"

"…after all these years…"

"…and maybe, just maybe, fall in love again," finished Sydney.

"It's insane. It's crazy. It's practically impossible," said Heidi.

"Let's do it!!!"

~*~

"Since when did they become best friends?" asked Liane as she and Julia (Megan having gone home to the Winner residence to grow her eyebrows back) watched Sydney and Heidi sitting at their Isolation table in the mess hall, poring over a napkin as they ate.

"I have _no idea," said Julia, shrugging._

Scrawled across the top of the napkin were the words 'Maxwell's Scrapyard and Repair.' Sydney was drawing out a map and explaining it to Heidi.

"Okay, this is the main gate where all the customers enter through. Over here is the scrapyard. Dad usually won't let me go in there cuz he's afraid something might fall on me. This building over here's the garage. The tools are over on this wall… This entire space here is where all the cars go; six in all can fit. Jeff's computer and register are over here on the front. You'll see two houses once you go out this door. The one on the right is where Howard and all the Sweepers live. The left one is where Dad and I live. We hardly ever use the front door… we usually go in and out this screen door on the side over here. Once you go inside, there's the…"

~*~

Sydney and Heidi sat on the steps of their Isolation cabin, going through a stack of photos.

"That's Aunt Sally and Uncle Wufei," said Heidi, pointing to a Preventers group photo. "They're Liane's parents. Aunt Sally's a doctor; she's really nice, you'll like her. Uncle Wufei, on the other hand… bug him _as much as possible. When you think you've bugged him enough, bug him some more. You __never call him Uncle Wufei. It's always Uncle Wuffie, Wu-wu, Wuffers, Wu-ster, or anything else you can come up with. I've crashed his computer countless times. You could probably do something to his car…"_

"I've already got ideas," said Sydney, her violet eyes sparkling with mischief.

"Excellent. This is Uncle Milliardo and Aunt Noin. Actually her name's Lucrezia but nobody calls her that, it's too long." Heidi pointed to another person. "This is Lady Une. She's the head of Preventers. She's also Mariemaia's adoptive mother." She went to the next picture. "This is…"

~*~

"Do you see anyone?" whispered Sydney.

"Nope, all clear," said Heidi, peering at the parking lot around the corner of the main lodge. "Let's go!"

The two girls quickly ran up to Mariemaia's SUV.

"Okay," said Sydney, looking at her watch. "I've got fifteen minutes to teach you how to change the oil and filter of a car before Mariemaia comes back…"

"Cool," Heidi said eagerly. "So what do I do?"

"You're going to have to go under the car."

"_What?!"_

Five minutes later…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Heidi cried as she got squirted in the face with engine oil.

"Um," said Sydney, trying to keep a straight face as Heidi came out from under the car, spluttering engine oil, "that's not supposed to happen."

"Gee, you _think_?!"

~*~

"Um, Sydney," Heidi said one morning as Sydney braided her hair, "we have a problem."

"What?"

"Your hair."

"What about it?" asked Sydney, tying an elastic at the end of her braid. She stared at it for a moment, looked up at Heidi's hair, and then back at her braid. Realization dawned on her. "Oh no. You're not saying… you can't mean…"

Heidi held up a pair of scissors. "You know we have to do this."

"No no no," said Sydney, going pale, "please, no, not my braid, my braid is my _baby_…"

"It's not like it's going to hurt, and anyways, you can grow it back…"

"No, don't do this to me, please," whimpered Sydney, clutching her braid tightly.

"Don't be overdramatic, Sydney, you want to meet Mom, don't you?"

"Of course I do, but… I _never_ cut my hair…"

"Sydney, I can't come back home to Mom with my hair two feet longer than when she last saw me. I mean, my hair grows fast, but not _that_ fast."

"But… but… _noooooo_…"

~*~

"I can't look."

"Sydney, it's okay, your hair's a lot shorter, but the ends are all even and everything."

"I can't look."

"Your haircut's really _nice_; look, I saved all your hair for you…"

Sydney looked up to see a foot and a half length of blue-black hair braided and looped in a figure eight, tied in the middle with a pale blue ribbon. She made a loud whimper and covered her face with her hands.

"Okay, okay," said Heidi, putting the braid aside, "maybe I shouldn't have shown that to you…" She held up a mirror in front of Sydney. "C'mon, you're going to have to take a look in the mirror sometime…"

Sydney reluctantly opened her eyes. Her blue-black hair was now just down to her shoulders, the ends curling slightly in a rather cute way. She ran her fingers through the shorter locks. "It's… not so bad," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Oh _no_," Heidi said suddenly, looking at Sydney's ears with dismay.

"What? Did you hack a chunk out of my hair or something?!"

"No, it's not that, it's… it's…"

"What?"

~*~

A flock of birds perched in the trees around the Isolation cabin suddenly took off into the air.

"WHAT DO YOU _MEAN_ YOU HAVE TO PIERCE MY EARS?!?!?"

~*~

"I can't believe we're actually doing this."

Sydney and Heidi crept to the door of Mariemaia's office in the dead of night. Sydney pulled a bobby pin out of her hair (now in a ponytail) and picked the lock open. They snuck into the office and closed the door behind them. Two flashlights went on and shone in the darkness.

"Okay, look around," said Heidi, "she's got to have a needle somewhere in here… look for one that's long and sharp; it has to be able to go clean through your ear in one poke…"

Sydney swallowed. "So… where does Mariemaia keep her first aid kit?"

~*~

"NO!!!" Sydney screamed, leaping up from her chair for the umpteenth time at Heidi's yet another unsuccessful attempt at piercing Sydney's ears.

"Sydney, we can't keep doing this," Heidi said in exasperation. "Can't we _please_ just get this over with already?"

"I'm—I'm afraid of needles," said Sydney.

"You think I'm not? I'm the one doing the piercing here!"

"Okay," said Sydney, sitting back down and composing herself. "Okay. I'm ready."

"Yeah, that's what you said an hour ago…" Heidi brought the needle up to Sydney's left ear. Sydney flinched.

"Don't move your head!"

"Sorry!"

Heidi took a deep breath and prepared to pierce Sydney's ear. She closed her eyes.

"Watch what you're doing!"

"Sorry!"

With a deep look of concentration, Heidi pierced Sydney's earlobe with one swift poke.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Sydney screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Did it hurt?!" Heidi cried.

"No," said Sydney.

"Then what'd you _scream_ for?!"

"Felt like it."

Heidi rolled her eyes. "Well, let's do the other ear then!"

"_Now_?"

"What, do you want just _one_ pierced ear?"

"Good point…"

~*~

"There's just one thing left to do," said Heidi.

"Now what?" Sydney asked. "Please don't tell me you've got a tattoo or something…"

"Relax," said Heidi. "All we have to do is switch crosses."

"Oh, right," said Sydney, removing her cross from her neck. Heidi did the same and the girls exchanged crosses. They put them on and looked in the mirror. The two girls now looked _exactly_ the same. They had successfully swapped identities.

"This is scary. I can't tell me from you. I mean, you from me," said Heidi. 

"And," said Sydney, "if _we_ can't tell ourselves apart…"

"…neither will mom and dad."

~*~

TBC…


	12. Making the Switch

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

Sydney and Heidi stepped out of their Isolation cabin on the last day of camp, each with the other's duffel bag over one shoulder. The two girls went down the path to the parking lot where all the campers and buses were gathered, everyone saying their goodbyes. The two girls stopped walking and turned to face each other.

"This is it," said Sydney.

"We're finally going home," said Heidi.

"I can't wait to meet Mom," said Sydney.

"And I can't wait to meet Dad," said Heidi. "Call me, okay? Audio only. Just use a different name, like… Jessica or something."

"Right. And I'm… Katie," said Sydney. The two girls laughed and hugged each other. They drew back, tears in their eyes. Sydney handed Heidi an envelope. "Here's your shuttle ticket. Dad should be there at the spaceport to pick you up. Give him a kiss for me, okay?"

"Okay. And give mom a kiss for me," said Heidi. "The key is to get them to start reminiscing about the good times. I'll ask dad about how he and Mom first met, and you can find out about their first date."

"Right." The two sisters hugged again. "I'm going to miss you so much," said Sydney. "This has been the best two months of my life."

"And mine. I'm really going to miss you too," said Heidi. 

"Alexandra Yuy! Your pink limo is here!" Mariemaia shouted into her megaphone.

Heidi laughed. "I guess that means I'll be leaving first. So… wish me luck," she said, hugging Sydney one last time. "See you soon."

"Bye Sydney!" Sydney called after her, waving as Heidi got into the pink limo.

Heidi rolled down one of the windows and stuck her head and arms out. "Bye Heidi!" she yelled, waving until her sister disappeared from sight.

~*~

Sydney fidgeted nervously in her seat as the taxi she was riding in drove through the streets of Brussels. She kept reading from a well-worn piece of paper, whispering names and descriptions to herself.

The taxi driver looked at her oddly through his rearview mirror. "What're you doing, kid?"

Sydney went white and then red. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Don't worry about me…"

The taxi came to a stop in front of an elegant, 18th century townhouse. The driver got out and opened the door for Sydney. She stepped out, looking up in awe at the house. "Wow."

The driver held out her duffel bag. "Oh, right," said Sydney, slinging it over one shoulder. She handed the driver several credits. "Keep the change. Thanks for the ride."

The taxi drove away and Sydney went up the steps to the front door, her fingers crossed. "Please let her like me," she whispered to herself. She fumbled for Heidi's keys and after several moments, found a key that seemed to match the gilt doorknob, grateful that the house didn't have a fingerprint lock. She opened the door and stepped inside.

Sydney decided she liked her mom's taste in decorating. The house had a friendly, cheerful look, sun-filled and warm, decorated in soft shades of lavender and blue and filled with simple, yet comfortable furniture. A long, carved staircase gracefully curved upwards to the second floor. Sydney took a deep breath and finally spoke. "Hello?"

And for the first time in her life, she heard her mother's voice.

"Heidi?" Hilde called out, emerging at the top of the stairs. Sydney looked up and slowly walked to the bottom of the stairs as if she were in a trance. "Mom?"

Hilde held her arms out. "Oh, Heidi. Welcome home."

Sydney flew up the stairs and fell into her mother's arms. Nothing Heidi could have said could describe what it felt like to finally be held in her mother's embrace. Tears came to Sydney's eyes. "I can't believe it's you."

"It's so good to finally have you back home," said Hilde, running her fingers through her daughter's hair. She looked into Sydney's eyes. "What's wrong? Are those tears?"

"I'm just so happy it's you," said Sydney. "I've missed you so much. You just can't imagine."

Hilde hugged her again. "I've missed you too. Now, you must be hungry after that long trip back. What do you say we feed that huge appetite of yours?"

Sydney's eyes lit up. "_Food_?"

~*~

"Mmmmm, Mom, this is _so_ good!" Sydney exclaimed, digging into the pasta Hilde had made with typical Maxwell gusto.

"Slow down," said Hilde, "what, did they starve you at camp or something?"

"No, not at all, but your cooking is just simply _delicious_!" The truth was, Sydney had had to learn to fend for herself at an early age, the pinnacle of Duo's cooking ability being macaroni and cheese, and the Sweepers' not being much better. Fortunately, Sydney had inherited her mother's cooking skills, but Hilde's cooking still sent Sydney's taste buds into a kind of seventh heaven.

"Glad to see you're still a fan of my cooking," said Hilde, laughing.

Sydney loved the sound of her mother's laugh. She couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from her. "Wow. I didn't know you were so beautiful. You sure you didn't get anything done while I was at camp?" she added jokingly.

"Oh, just the usual, you know, a facelift, a botox injection, plus a tummy tuck and a bit of liposuction, do you like it?" Hilde said without missing a beat.

Both of them laughed. "So, how was camp?" asked Hilde. "Was it fun? Did you make any nice friends?"

"Camp was awesome," said Sydney. "I became really good friends with this one girl. Practically like sisters."

"See, I knew you'd like it," said Hilde. Just then, the vidphone began to beep. "Now who could that be? I'll be right back, okay?"

Hilde went into her office and turned the vidphone. "Hello, Commander Une… Really? Oh no… Can't you call Ramirez or Sinclair to fix it? Heidi just came home from camp, and… I see… I'll be right there."

Hilde went back into the kitchen. "Heidi, how would you like to take a quick trip with me over to Preventers?"

~*~

TBC…


	13. Sydney Strikes Again

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

"What is _she_ doing here?!"

Sydney gave Wufei her most impudent smirk. "Hi, Uncle Wu!" she exclaimed enthusiastically. "Didja miss me? Huh huh huh?"

"Be quiet, you obnoxious child!"

"I'm supposed to be off-duty, remember?" said Hilde. "I just came back from an extended mission. And Heidi's been away at camp all summer. I didn't want to leave her behind on her first day home. Now what's the problem?" she asked, noticing the black screens on most of the computers.

"The cadets were doing an exercise on code breaking using some computers connected to the main network," explained Sally. "One of them somehow got into the operating system and scrambled some of the program codes that run the main network. Now everyone's computers are frozen, or worse, won't even turn on, like Wufei's."

"Silly onna cadet! They should not allow incompetents like her onto the main network!"

"Don't be so hard on the cadets, Wufei; they're still learning." Hilde sat down at a computer that still had a blinking cursor and began to type. "Hmmmm… Heidi?"

"Yeah Mom?" Sydney asked, hoping it wasn't a computer question.

"Could you go back to the car and get my laptop bag for me? I have a disk with an algorithm that I think just might fix this."

"Sure, Mom. Um… what's the way out?" asked Sydney.

Hilde was too engrossed in the computer to notice Sydney's lapse. "Oh, you take that elevator over there all the way down to the main floor. Take a left and you'll be right in the main foyer. You can just go out the front doors, they'll know who you are. Here's the keys," she said, handing the car keys to Sydney.

"Thanks Mom." Sydney took the elevator downstairs and walked out the main doors. She went to her mom's car and opened the driver's side door, retrieving her mom's laptop bag from under the seat and shutting the door, locking the car. Sydney turned to head back inside when she spotted Chang Wufei's Preventer-issued, spotless black SUV in the space directly in front of her mother's car.

Sydney suddenly had an idea.

Pulling out the bobby pin she always kept in her hair, Sydney picked the driver's side door open. After several tries, the lock clicked and she hopped inside.

Sydney marveled at the SUV's interior, running her fingers over the black leather seats. "Nice wheels… almost a shame to do this to such a nice car. Still, I can't pass up an opportunity like this…" Reaching under the wheel, Sydney popped open a panel and felt for the right wires in order to hot-wire the car. When she found them, she severed them in half and twisted two of them together. The engine roared to life. Chuckling evilly, she put the car into drive and drove the car to an empty area in the parking lot. 

"Bet Heidi never did anything like this…" Sydney put the gearshift into reverse and turned the wheel sharply to the left. She opened the car door and jumped out as the car began to turn. She ran out of the car's path and looked back to survey what she had done.

Wufei's SUV was now slowly turning backwards in circles…

~*~

"Sorry mom, I had trouble finding the car in the parking lot," Sydney said breathlessly as she gave Hilde her laptop bag.

"Oh, don't worry about it," said Hilde, pulling a black disk out of one of the pockets and putting it into the computer. Her fingers began flying over the keys and Sydney, watched, amazed, as the Preventers home screen popped back up on the computer and all the ones around them a few moments later. "There, the entire network should be back up now."

"Finally, onna," Wufei said irritably, pushing Hilde aside and logging in. "I can't believe this! Only two sentences of my report are still on here!"

"I hope you've learned your lesson, Wufei," quipped Sally. "Always save your work."

"Do not mock me, onna…"

Just then Lady Une came up to their desk. "Preventer Chang, I think you'd better see this."

"What now?" Wufei huffed angrily, looking up.

"Look out the window."

Wufei got up and went to the window. "Why is that car driving backwards in circles?"

"Um," said Sally, recognizing it, "it looks like your car, Wufei…"

Wufei narrowed his gaze. "That is my car? That is my _car_. That is _my_ car. THAT IS MY CAR!!!" He turned around to see Sydney trying to hide behind Hilde. "_YOU!!!_"he yelled furiously.

Both Sally and Lady Une had to hold him back. "Calm down, Wufei!" Sally exclaimed.

But Wufei would have none of it. "Check the surveillance cameras! I _know_ she did it!" Wufei shouted, spit flying from his mouth.

Hilde looked down at her daughter. "I'm pretty sure she did it too," she said. "Leave her alone, Wufei; _I'll_ deal with her…"

Sydney swallowed. It looked like she was about to get her first punishment from her mom…

~*~

"Explain yourself."

Sydney looked imploringly into her mom's eyes with what she hoped were her best cow eyes. "Well, it's just that I've been away at camp, and I needed something big to make up for all the times I didn't crash his computer this summer. And I just saw his car sitting there; I couldn't resist…"

"You know I'm immune to that look, young lady. Now what kind of a reason is that?"

"Well, it was worth a try," said Sydney. 'Shoot, that look always worked on Dad…'

"Where did you learn to hot wire a car, anyway?"

"Huh? Um… they taught us at camp," said Sydney.

"Really?" said Hilde, raising an eyebrow.

"Um, yeah, you know, if one of your parents loses their keys and you're stuck out in the wilderness somewhere," Sydney said lamely. "So… how did they get the car to stop?"

"They had to climb over the hood and smash a window to get inside!"

Sydney burst out laughing, but quickly desisted at her mother's stern look. "I'm sorry, Mom, I really am," she said earnestly. "I can't help but wonder though, where do I go from here?"

Hilde shook her head. "Utterly remorseless, as usual. You're incorrigible, just like…" She suddenly drifted off.

This was exactly the kind of opening Sydney wanted. "Like… my father?"

Hilde sighed. "Yes, like your father."

"So what was he like?"

"When did this conversation turn to your father? This is supposed to be about you, remember? Don't go changing the subject on me…"

"I'm not trying to evade punishment or anything," said Sydney, "but you can't blame a kid for being curious, like why you never mention him or anything."

Hilde seemed to get a faraway look in her eyes. "You know, this part of you reminds me of him. Always asking questions. Well, what do you want to know?"

"How did you fall in love with him?" asked Sydney. "When was your first date?"

"Well, when I first met him, I knew my life would never be the same. If it weren't for him, I'd probably be just another dead OZ statistic. I was working in an OZ facility on one of the colonies when I saw him, wearing those damn sunglasses, lounging in that chair with that annoying smirk on his face. It was unnerving. I knew he was trouble, that he was dangerous, which scared and attracted me to him at the same time. I gave him my recruiting spiel and left, somehow knowing it wouldn't be the last time I would see him. I ended up letting him escape in one of our suits, and later going on one insane mission after another, all just for him.

"Now, our first date… we didn't even go out on a date until after the war ended. We'd been living together, as friends, at his scrapyard business on L2. I came home after buying groceries one day and found a large white box and a note, telling me to put on what was inside and go downstairs. I opened it and found this very short, very sexy, nearly backless red dress and a pair of strappy red sandals. I was infuriated at first, the _nerve_ of him, giving me something like that to wear, but something made me put it on anyway. So I went downstairs, looking for him, when all of a sudden he came up behind me and blindfolded me, of all things. When I refused to move a single step unless he took off the blindfold, he picked me up and tossed me into his car. We drove for about fifteen minutes before he stopped and let me out, finally removing the blindfold.

"It was the sweetest thing he'd ever done for me. We were in front of Francesca's, an upscale Italian restaurant that I had always wanted to go to, but he had always dismissed it because he said he didn't like snooty fancy restaurants, and besides they always ripped you off anyway. But there he was, in a nice suit and tie, which for him, was a lot, and a gorgeous candlelit dinner on a balcony outside under the artificial moon. The dinner was going very nicely until he spilled red wine all over his suit. I wouldn't stand for letting the stain soak in, so we went home early. I started helping him with his clothes, and…" Hilde suddenly blushed. "Anyways, that was our first date. Are you happy now that I've told you something about your father?"

"That's so adorable, Mom," said Sydney. "Dad sounds like such a romantic. I wish I could meet him someday."

"Yes, well, he could be anywhere by now, I don't know where he lives anymore," said Hilde, although she avoided Sydney's eyes when she said that. "Okay, enough about your father. Now about what you've done to Chang Wufei's car…"

Sydney tuned out her mother's lecture. 'She's obviously still in love with him,' she thought, remembering how her mother's face had lit up as she recounted the story. 'So why did you break up?'

~*~

TBC…


	14. Heidi's Homecoming

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

Escaping the gravitational field of the Earth, Heidi discovered, was not a very pleasant experience. She had barely managed to keep the contents of her stomach down during the shuttle launch; it was only by sheer force of will that she did not ask the stewardess for a motion sickness bag. It was all worth it, however, when the shuttle emerged through the atmosphere and she saw outer space for the first time. She peered eagerly out of her porthole, mesmerized by its sheer vastness. "Wow," she whispered to herself. "I never imagined it would be so amazing out here."

As exciting as it was to be flying through outer space, though, Heidi was more excited to be finally meeting her dad. The night before they left camp, Heidi and Sydney had made a bet on which parent would figure out the switch first; Heidi, of course, insisting it would be their mom, while Sydney insisted that it would be their dad. Heidi giggled, positive that Sydney would owe her ten credits at the end of the summer…

"We are now approaching L2," the captain announced over the intercom. Heidi looked out the porthole again as the shuttle flew past the moon and the L2 cluster came into view. Heidi gazed in awe at the enormous metal structures floating in space. She counted three colonies in all as the shuttle made its approach to the one in the center.

"Please remain seated until the shuttle has come to a complete stop," the captain stated. Heidi saw a shuttle bay open in the side of the colony and two white dotted lines light up. The shuttle slowed down and Heidi felt the sensation of being pulled in as the shuttle entered the docking bay. The bay doors behind them shut and Heidi couldn't see anything outside the shuttle except for a series of blinking white lights. The shuttle continued to slow down as another set of doors opened and they entered the brightly lit shuttle terminal. The shuttle slowed to a stop next to an open exit ramp.

"Please remove all personal belongings from the shuttle and proceed to the exit in an orderly fashion. Thank you for flying with us," said the captain. Heidi eagerly unbuckled her seat belt and got up. She opened the overhead compartment to get her duffel bag when she suddenly lost her balance and found herself sprawled on the floor in the middle of the aisle. "Ow! What is going on?!" 

A nearby stewardess helped Heidi get up. "The gravity here on the colony is slightly less than that of Earth. Are you new here?"

"Yeah," said Heidi. "Er, that is, I'm not supposed to be, but… it's kinda complicated."

"I won't pry," said the stewardess. "Since it is your first time though, would you like some help getting off the shuttle?"

"Really? Thanks," said Heidi. The stewardess helped her retrieve her duffel bag and guided her to the exit and down the exit ramp. Heidi had the vague sensation that her feet weren't quite attached to the ground. "It can be very disorienting the first time around," said the stewardess, "but you'll get your colony legs in a couple of days."

'_Colony legs_?'

They came to a pair of glass double doors. "Opening airlock doors," said an automated voice. "Stand clear." There was a hiss and the glass doors parted. A small breeze with a slightly metallic scent hit Heidi. "Ugh, what is that smell?"

"It's the recycled air they use on the colony," said the stewardess. "Don't worry, it's perfectly breathable. You won't even notice the smell after a few days… Think you can go from here?"

"I think so," said Heidi. "Thanks very much for your help." She and the stewardess parted ways as Heidi walked down the rest of the ramp. 

Colony life was definitely something that was going to take getting used to, Heidi decided. "Well, here goes nothing," she said to herself. She took a deep breath and entered the terminal.

~*~

Duo Maxwell squinted as he scanned the passengers disembarking off the latest shuttle flight from Earth. He checked his watch. Sydney was supposed to be on this flight, wasn't she? Duo continued to look. At last he saw her walk out of the exit ramp, looking a little lost. "Hey Sydney! Over here!"

Heidi looked in the direction from where she heard her sister's name. There was no mistaking the man with the long chestnut braid waving enthusiastically, a huge grin on his face. "Sydney! Welcome back!"

"Dad!" Heidi ran full sprint towards her father, tackling him in a huge bear hug. "I've missed you so much!"

"Hey babe, long time no see!" Duo exclaimed, picking Heidi up and swinging her around in a circle. Heidi shrieked with laughter. Duo put her down. "Whoa, what happened to your hair?"

Heidi had prepared an excuse. "It was way too hot at camp with long hair, so I cut it. A girl at camp did it for me. D'you like it?"

"Like it? You look like a million bucks," said Duo. "I can't help but feel a sense of loss, though, that you've gone ahead and cut off your daddy's trademark… I must not be cool anymore. My little girl's becoming a _teenager_," he said dramatically.

Heidi giggled. "You're just lucky I didn't come home with neon green hair, Dad…"

"C'mere, you rebellious wild child," said Duo, ruffling his daughter's hair fondly. "Ya ready to go home, babe?"

Heidi smiled up at her dad and hooked her arm through his. "Yeah. Let's go home."

~*~

Heidi and Duo left the terminal and walked out to the parking garage to Duo's black pickup truck, license plate 'SHNIGAMI.' "I love your license plate, Dad," said Heidi. "It's so… you."

"Really? You thought it was stupid when I got it," said Duo.

"I did? Oh yeah, I did. Well, I changed my mind," said Heidi. "I think it's awesome."

Duo sighed. "Man, fifteen minutes and you've already started heaping it on."

Heidi looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, whenever you want something, you always start with a compliment, and then you start begging me for whatever it is that you want… so what is it?"

"Nothing at all, Dad," said Heidi. "It's just that being away at camp has made me appreciate things that I've taken for granted. There was this girl at camp who had _never_ met her dad her whole life. Not _once_," she said meaningfully. "I mean, wouldn't it be depressing, not being able to say, 'I love you, Dad,' or having your dad teach you to play sports, or go to Daddy-Daughter dances with, or to make a card for on Father's Day…"

"Uh huh."

'Man, this guy's dense,' Heidi thought. "Anyways, I'm just saying, I think it's the _dad's_ fault for not taking the time to get to know his own _daughter_. I mean, she's a really great person."

"So… ya wanna have her over? Is that it?"

Heidi sweatdropped. "Um… never mind. So, did you miss me while I was away at camp?"

"Oh, I just about cried myself to sleep every night while you were gone…"

"Dad…"

"Seriously though, I really missed having you around," said Duo. "It was like there was a void or something… everyone can't wait to see you again. Anyways, how was camp?"

"Oh, it was really fun," said Heidi. "I became really good friends with this one girl. We had a _lot_ of things in common."

"See, I told you it'd be fun. Dad's just _know_ these things," said Duo, nodding sagely. "So, ready to get all dirty and greasy and start working in the garage again?"

"T-today?"

"I don't see why not."

"But… I don't want to get my clothes dirty."

"Whoa, did I accidentally send you off to one of Relena's ladies' schools or something? You were never one to be afraid of getting a little dirtied up once in a while…"

Heidi began making things up out of the top of her head as she went. "Um… um, actually, the thing is… I think I might have gotten a little rusty while I was at camp…"

"Rusty? You've been in the garage ever since you could walk… 'sides, there's really not much else you can do for the rest of the summer besides work in there…"

"Don't we have a computer?" Heidi asked hopefully.

"I threw the last one out the window, remember?"

"How horrible! I mean, it was a stupid piece of junk anyway," Heidi added quickly.

"Well, there's always Jeff's, but that's just got the finances on it. You've always hated computers anyway…"

"Well yeah, it's just… I don't think I've given them enough of a chance," said Heidi. "Or, you know, I can try to fix the one we have…"

"Good luck there, I smashed up that monitor pretty good…" Duo turned onto another street. "Here we are."

"Oh my gosh." Maxwell's Scrapyard and Repair was an extensive, thriving business. Heidi didn't have to be an accountant to figure out that her dad's company made a lot of money. The place was bustling with activity, Duo's team of Sweepers hard at work, yelling directions and carting off truckloads of scrap to the scrap pile.

"Yeah, we got tons of stuff out there," said Duo as he drove in. "I've still got a couple of guys bringing in more later this week. I've already got a bunch of clients interested in parts and repairs… and who knows, maybe I'll be able to find the right parts to finish that engine that I've been working on."

"Engine?" Heidi asked.

"You know, that extra Vernier engine from Deathscythe that I've had lying around. I'm modifying it so I can get it to power a shuttle. Howard and I are still trying to figure out the right power output so it can fly at maximum speed without blowing the whole shuttle up. According to Howard's calculations though, if it works we can go from here to Earth in ten minutes. I'm hopin' to get a patent on it." Duo drove past the repair garage and parked in front of the house. He got out and walked around to Heidi's side, opening the door for her. "Welcome home, babe!"

Heidi stepped out of the truck and looked up at the house, immediately liking it. Although simple in design like most colonial buildings, it was two stories high, wide and spacious. Howard and the Sweepers lived in a house adjacent to it, which was similar in style and design. A concrete patio was in between the two houses, with a long picnic table in the middle and a large, brick barbecue grill built into the concrete. She stood there for several moments, taking it all in.

"Hey, why're you so quiet?" asked Duo. "Something wrong?"

Her eyes misting, Heidi hugged her dad only for the second time in her life. "I'm just so glad to be home."

~*~

TBC…


	15. Slipups in the Garage

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

Heidi cringed the moment she entered the house. Numerous take-out cartons and pop cans littered the kitchen and breakfast nook, and the coffee table in front of the TV was piled with pizza boxes. There were clothes hanging over the side of the sofa and in heaps on the floor that looked like they had been worn several times without washing, and… were those hairballs? 

"Dad…" Heidi said slowly, "what happened here?"

"Sorry," said Duo, nearly tripping over a pair of jeans as he began grabbing the pizza and take-out boxes. "I meant to clean up before you got here, but all these new shipments of scrap have been coming in, and I've been really busy…"

"That's okay, Dad," said Heidi, remembering how Sydney had strewn her belongings all over the cabin they had shared in a similar fashion. 'This absolutely will not do,' she thought. It couldn't hurt if she tried to make a few improvements on their dad while she was here…

Heidi started picking up clothes off the floor, wrinkling her nose. "Dad, where's the washing machine?"

"Um, it broke two weeks ago," Duo said from behind a pile of pizza boxes.

"Hasn't it been fixed?"

"Uh… as of right now, no."

"Well, can you fix it today?"

"Ehhhhh… the thing is, I don't have the instruction manual," said Duo as he started stuffing the empty pizza boxes into a garbage bag.

Heidi paused for a moment. "Wait a minute. You can fix a Gundam and you can fix every type of car out there… but you can't fix a washing machine?"

"I can _so_, I just need the manual," said Duo.

"Do you know where it is?"

"…No."

"Then what did you do once you ran out of clothes?"

"Wore the same thing over again." 

Heidi sweatdropped. "So… where's the nearest L2 Cleaners?"

"Aw, look, let's worry about that later," said Duo, "I don't want my best girl doing laundry on her first day home. Whaddaya say we do a little father-daughter work in the garage?"

Heidi went pale. "Um, I really don't think—"

"C'mon, I _guarantee_ you'll remember how to do everything once you're in there…"

Trapped and out of excuses, Heidi attempted to stall, hoping for a miracle. "Uh… um, I… um, that is, uh…"

At that moment, the vidphone began to beep. Heidi sighed with relief. "Whoops," said Duo, "I should probably take this call. Why don't you go on without me?"

"But—" 

"I'm sure you'll be _fine_…"

~*~

Heidi felt anything but fine as she reluctantly headed for the garage, having no other choice. Just how exactly was she supposed to use skills that she didn't even have? Maybe she could get Howard to let her do something simple like organizing the shelves. At least she was no longer under her dad's scrutiny…

Heidi shook her head. What was wrong with her? Heidi Schbeiker was _not_ one to walk away from a challenge. There wasn't really anything to be afraid of; a car was just another machine, after all. She had repaired computers before… surely the same principles had to be involved. She wasn't going to let one disastrous experience keep her from learning how to fix a car; she had told Sydney she wanted to, hadn't she? 'I can _do_ this,' Heidi thought. 'Just you watch, Sydney, I'm going to win our bet…'

With her new resolve, she confidently walked into the garage. "Hi guys!" she exclaimed enthusiastically.

There was a chorus of hellos from the seven or so Sweepers working in the garage. Heidi stood there for a moment, trying to recall exactly where Sydney's work area was. 'Oh yeah, second from the right…'

Heidi walked past Jeff, who was currently smacking a computer monitor with one hand. "Stupid… useless… thing…"

Heidi turned around. "What's the problem?" she piped up.

"For some reason, the computer seems to spontaneously destruct all my account figures. Whenever I input a number, it comes up as zero. I total the column, it totals to zero. Seriously, I'm thinking about chucking this heap into the junkyard…"

"Oh, I'm sure that's not really necessary," said Heidi, the violent demise of their computer coming to mind. "Let's have a look…." She went in front of the keyboard and began to type. "Hmmm…"

Jeff watched, astonished, as window after window of account figures and program commands started popping up on the screen. "What—"

"There you go," said Heidi, pressing the enter key and returning to the home screen. "Just a little bug, really… everything should work now. Plus, I added a few new things… the computer will automatically add everything up into the total column instead of you having to do it manually like you have been. Also, it'll now calculate weekly and monthly profit averages. And I reorganized the archives by year, month, week, and date so you can go back and compare figures between any dates you want. It's a pretty good computer, actually," she said, patting the computer monitor, "you just have to know how to use it. Don't hesitate to ask me if you have any more problems, okay?"

"Um, all right," said Jeff, scratching his head in bewilderment as Heidi sauntered away. "Huh?"

"Hi Howard!" Heidi said brightly as she passed his work area. "So, what would you like me to do first today?"

"Actually, I could really use your help here," said Howard from underneath a car. "Could you hand me my ratchet wrench?"

"Sure." Heidi looked up at the large selection of wrenches that hung from the wall. She grabbed the biggest one. "Um… is it this one?"

"No, that's my crescent wrench, Syd," said Howard. "I asked for my ratchet wrench."

"Sorry, my bad," said Heidi. She looked up at the row of wrenches again and picked the one in the center. "Here you go," she said, handing the wrench to Howard.

"Nope, Syd, this is my socket wrench," said Howard, handing it back.

"Oh," said Heidi. She crossed her fingers and grabbed another one at random. She turned around and held it out to Howard, who had gotten out from under the car and was watching her with a strange expression on his face. "This one?" Heidi asked hopefully.

"No."

Heidi grabbed another. "This one?"

"No."

"This one?"

"Syd, it's the third one from the right."

"Oh… right," said Heidi, grabbing the correct wrench and handing it to Howard. "Just messing with ya, Howard," said Heidi, grinning sheepishly.

"Riiiight," said Howard, raising an eyebrow. "Well, that car over there needs an oil change. Do your stuff."

"Okay." Heidi approached said car with a little trepidation, trying her best to reacall Sydney's instructions. "Okay, we're gonna need a new oil and filter first, right?" Heidi spotted several bottles of engine oil lined up on a shelf. "Um… this one looks as good as any," she said to herself, grabbing a bottle. "Now how much did she say to use?" Heidi opened the bottle and peered inside as she walked back to the car. "Looks like there's enough… _oooof_!"

Heidi collided smack-dab into Howard, the bottle of engine oil flying out of her hands and dousing the front of Howard's Hawaiian shirt with its contents.

"Oh, scheiße… I mean, I'm _really_ sorry, Howard," said Heidi, biting her lip. "Um, um… I'll just… go get you a new shirt, shall I?" she stammered, quickly walking away.

Howard watched her leave. "Something definitely strange is going on here…"

~*~

TBC…


	16. The Other Woman

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

'That was nothing short of a _complete_ disaster,' Heidi thought as she left the garage. At this rate, her dad would be able to figure out her real identity in less than a week. Why did working in the garage have to be so _hard_?

Heidi walked toward Howard's house. Compared to finding him the right wrench, finding him another shirt would be easy; all she had to do was look for the closet with all the Hawaiian shirts, right? His house had better not be as messy as her dad's, though, or Howard would simply have to get another shirt himself…

As she walked up the steps to the front door, she noticed a top-of-the-line, silver Mercedes coupe parked in the driveway to her dad's house. Impressed, Heidi went to take a closer look. Was her dad getting a new car? Nah, this wasn't his style; somebody important must be at the house…

A lighthearted peal of laughter rang through the air. Curious, Heidi went to see where it had come from. No one seemed to be inside the house (why would they? there were still clothes everywhere) so she went around to the patio.

Duo Maxwell was sitting on the picnic bench beside a beautiful blonde woman, looking at her with a goofy smile on his face. They were sitting rather close—too close, Heidi thought.

Duo turned around and saw Heidi. "Oh, hey Syd! Come on over here for a moment; there's someone I'd like you to meet."

"Okay." Heidi hesitantly walked out onto the patio. She usually wasn't shy about meeting new people, but there was something about this woman that seemed like…

"Sydney," said Duo, "I'd like to introduce you to Melanie Prescott. Melanie, this is my daughter, Sydney."

Heidi studied Melanie carefully. She was a picture perfect femme fatale, tall and slim, with perfectly styled shoulder-length hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a chic, undoubtedly designer, sleeveless navy blue dress that emphasized her generous curves and showed off her long, slender legs, one of which she had been rubbing against Duo's in a not-so-innocent way.

"It's so nice to finally meet you," said Melanie, shaking Heidi's hand. "Duo's just told me so much about you. It's always been 'Sydney this, Sydney that.' I can't wait to get to know you better."

'Get to know me better? What for?' thought Heidi. "It's very nice to meet you, Miss Prescott," she said with a little unease.

"Oh please, call me Melanie," she said. "You have such a lovely daughter, Duo-dear. From the way you've talked about her I expected to meet a little girl, but Sydney's so grown-up." 

"I just turned eleven in April," said Heidi.

"Eleven years old? How wonderful," said Melanie. "Why, when I was your age, I already had my first beau…"

Duo coughed. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that for a few more years…"

"Oh, of course," said Melanie. "Tomboys need time to blossom, anyway…"

'Have I just been insulted?' wondered Heidi.

Melanie turned to Heidi again. "So, your father tells me you've been away at camp all summer. How was it?"

Heidi tried not to look at the way Melanie had started playing with Duo's braid and how he seemed to be enjoying it. "Um… I made a lot of new friends. This one girl in particular. It was as if we were twins."

"Oh, that's nice," Melanie said vaguely, sounding like she hadn't been paying any attention to her at all.

Just then, Howard approached them from the garage, still with engine oil all down his front. "Hey Duo, there's a call here about a big scrap shipment from L1. I think you'd better handle it."

"Sure thing. I'll be right back, okay Mel-babe?" said Duo, getting up.

Heidi tried not to make a face in disgust. '_Mel-babe_?'

"Actually, I've got to be going too," said Melanie, standing up also. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay hon?" she said, giving Duo a quick kiss on the lips.

"Hey," said Duo, putting his arm around her, "why don't I walk you to your car…"

'Ugh, if I keep watching this I'm gonna be sick,' thought Heidi. She turned to Howard. "Oh my goodness, I completely forgot about your shirt!" she exclaimed in dismay.

"Oh, don't worry about it," said Howard, "it always looks like this by the end of the day."

"Nonsense, Howard, let's go get you a new shirt," she said, going over to the side door and trying to open it. "Um, Howard…" said Heidi, giving the door another shove, "your side door seems to be stuck…"

"_Pull_, Sydney."

"Oh… right," said Heidi. "Well, come on, can't let that oil become a stain, now can we?"

The two of them walked inside. "Howard," said Heidi, "what does this Melanie person want with my dad?"

"First off," began Howard, "it's none of my business if your dad wants to make a fool out of himself, do you understand? I mean, he's a grown man now; he can make decisions on his own. They're not always good ones, but hey, that's your dad for you. There's a reason why Heero Yuy called him a braided baka…"

'I sense some pent-up frustration here,' Heidi thought. "Okay, Howard, but what is Melanie after and why is she flirting with my dad?"

"Flirting? You don't know the half of it, kid," said Howard as he began rummaging through his closet. "It started up just about after you left. Ever hear of the Prescott Corporation?"

"Um, I've heard the name somewhere," said Heidi.

"Well, it's a powerful conglomerate that specializes in high-tech vehicles and machinery. Right up there with Winner. The company's lookin' to expand into the colonies; big market there ya know. Anyways, Melanie's the daughter of the CEO, Jim Prescott. She first started off as just another client, but from the moment I first met her I knew she had an ulterior motive. And wouldn't you know it, soon she was scheduling more 'meetings'—not just your normal ones, but nice restaurants for dinner, horseback riding, dancing, test driving new shuttle prototypes; heck, I think she even invited him to her beach house in Grand Cayman once. Instead of going with us on the Sweeping mission like he was supposed to, he completely forgot about it. Who did most of the stuff? _We_ did. While we were sweeping up space junk, he was sweeping her off her feet. Now she's got Duo wrapped around her manicured little finger and he doesn't even know it."

Heidi paled. "But why would she want to do that?"

Howard went into the bathroom to change. "Your dad may not realize it, mainly 'cause he was never any good at computing numbers or figures or anything, but this salvage company's turned up a pretty big profit over the years. Just ask Jeff; he'll show 'em to ya. Maxwell's Scrapyard and Repair is the most profitable business in the L2 cluster." 

Howard came back out, wearing a screaming green shirt with pineapples and coconuts. It was quite as ugly as the other one. "And what could be a better way to do business with the colonies than to marrying into one of its most powerful companies? C'mon, if they have a kid, the merger's sealed. I mean, Duo's always been a chick magnet, but this one knows _exactly_ what she's doing and how she's gonna do it. Melanie's got millions of reasons to marry Duo Maxwell and they're all sitting in the L2 bank."

Heidi looked at him with dismay. "But that's horrible! She's just taking advantage of him! She's—she's nothing but a gold digger!"

"Exactly. I'm just hoping Duo comes to his senses before he ties the knot," said Howard. "It's not my place to get involved, but maybe you'll be able to get through to him. Talk some sense into him or something."

'_Damn right I will_!'

"Anyways, I gotta get back to the garage," said Howard. "Don't tell your dad I've been telling you this, okay?"

"Telling me what?" Heidi said mock-innocently.

"Exactly. See ya, kiddo," said Howard, heading back to the garage. Heidi went back to her house and sat down on her dad's La-Z-Boy, pondering what to do.

'I'm gonna need backup on this one…'

~*~

Sydney was sitting at the kitchen table, stuffing forkfuls of blueberry pancakes into her mouth while Hilde was upstairs getting ready for work, running a little late after the two of them watched movie after movie into the early morning.

The vidphone began to beep. "Could you get that, dear?" said Hilde. "If it's Une, tell her I apologize for being late…"

"I got it, Mom," said Sydney. Wiping maple syrup off her chin, Sydney pressed the 'on' button. Heidi's face popped up on the screen. "Geez! Heidi!" Sydney quickly pressed the button for audio. "What're you doing calling at a time like this?"

"Hasn't Mom already left for work?"

"Shhhhh, not so loud!" said Sydney. "No, she hasn't, she's running late this morning. I can't believe how awesome she is; I keep pinching myself to make sure it's real! I absolutely love her! She's just so beautiful and perfect and an excellent cook and amazing with computers; she fixed the whole network yesterday after it crashed and then we went home and she told me all about how she met Dad and their first date and then she made this delicious stir fry for dinner and then we watched movies until one in the morning and that's why she's late and—"

"That's great, Sydney, but we have a serious problem here," Heidi interrupted. "Dad's in love with someone."

Sydney laughed. "Whaddaya mean 'in love?' Dad never falls in love. I mean, sure, he's a huge flirt, but—"

"He's serious about this one though. They're always laughing and kissing and doing stuff together… it's absolutely disgusting. What makes it worse is that Melanie—that's her name—only wants him for his money, and he doesn't even have a clue. There's only one thing that can make him break up with her. You've got to bring Mom over here."

"_What_? Already? No way, I've barely even been with her for twenty-four hours—" 

"You don't understand, this is really serious—"

"Sabotage her. Get her into the junkyard and knock something down on her. Do whatever you have to. I want to spend more time with Mom."

"Look, Sydney, once we get them back together, you can spend as much time with Mom as you want. But we've got to stop this now before it gets too serious; I need your help—"

"Heidi, I can't help you right now—" Sydney cast a panicked look up the stairs. "Mom's coming—gotta go—"

And she pressed the button to disconnect.

Hilde came down the stairs in her Preventers uniform. "Who was that, dear?"

Sydney grinned sheepishly. "Just a courtesy call."

~*~

Sitting in the dark, Heidi stared at her blank vidphone screen. "Thanks a _lot_, Syd."

It looked like this was going to be harder to do than she thought…

~*~

TBC…


	17. Heidi vs Melanie

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

A little jetlagged and having stayed up into the early morning hours to make her less-than-successful vidphone call to Sydney, Heidi woke up somewhat late the next day. It took several moments for Heidi to remember where she was and why she was there. "God, what a mess," she muttered, running her fingers through her hair.

She sat up and stumbled out of bed towards the window. The first thing she noticed was Melanie's car. "I don't believe it she's here again?!" Heidi took a look at the clock; it was nearly noon. She went over to the closet, grumbling to herself. "Doesn't that woman have a hair appointment or something? Why does she have to keep coming _here_…"

She opened the closet only to find that the majority of Sydney's clothes had various grease and oil stains on them. She began rummaging through the hangars. "Doesn't she have a pair of jeans without holes in the knees?" Heidi grabbed a particularly decrepit pair. "Hmmm…"

Five minutes later, she had hacked the legs off with a pair of scissors and now had a new pair of cutoff shorts. She went back to the closet and grabbed a camouflage patterned t-shirt that she deemed acceptable. "I have got to take you shopping for new clothes, Sydney," she said, shaking her head. She quickly got dressed and put her hair into a half-ponytail.

Steeling herself, Heidi went downstairs to face the horror that was Melanie. "It's very simple," Heidi told herself. "All you've got to do is remind Dad about Mom, and he'll forget all about Melanie. You may have been raised a Schbeiker, but you're still half-Maxwell. Think, Heidi, think…"

Heidi took a look out the bay windows in the breakfast nook. Sure enough, Melanie was with her father again, hanging all over him in a sickening way. Heidi barely repressed a shudder. She took a deep breath and went out the screen door that opened to the patio, clearing her throat to get their attention.

"Hey, good to see you're finally awake, Syd," said Duo. "What's up?"

"Hi Dad, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure honey; right now?" asked Duo, still looking at Melanie.

"Yes, please."

"Actually," Melanie cut in, "I'm still in the middle of a conversation with your father; could it wait?"

"Um, it's kinda impor—"

"Why don't you be a dear and get us something to drink, Sydney?" Melanie added with a patronizing smile.

"Sure thing, Melanie," Heidi gritted out, seriously pissed but trying not to show it. She stomped back inside the house, feeling an urge to break something, preferably Melanie's neck… 

After taking a few moments to calm herself, Heidi went over to the refrigerator to see what she had to work with. She opened the door and sweatdropped. The refrigerator was completely devoid of anything except a half empty pizza box (eeeew, anchovies?) and two bottles of Bud Light, and she certainly wasn't about to give _that_ to them…

Making a mental note to go grocery shopping, Heidi decided to try the freezer. This time, Heidi giggled at what she found; there had to be at least fifteen 'Hungry Man' frozen dinners in here… She rummaged through the back and encountered a can of frozen lemonade concentrate. "Perfect," she whispered. She put it on the counter and began looking through the cabinets. Her dad's set of dinnerware was surprising complete, she thought as she took out an acrylic pitcher. 'Oh yeah, Sydney feeds all the Sweepers in addition to Dad…' Heidi definitely wasn't looking forward to it. She opened the can of concentrate and prepared it according to the directions.

Heidi put the pitcher and two tall glasses on a tray and took it outside to the patio, only to discover Melanie sitting by herself, talking on a cell phone. "Yes, yes, Reverend… that's correct… uh huh, I'm writing it all down," she said, writing down absolutely nothing, having nothing on which to write on nor anything to write with. "Yes… thank you… I'll call you back as soon as I can… yes… goodbye."

Melanie rolled her eyes and popped the phone back in her purse. She looked up. "Oh hello, Sydney, your father had to go fix something in the garage; he'll be back in a minute. Lemonade? How very nice; here, let me help you with that."

"No thanks, I got it," said Heidi, setting it down on the table.

Melanie helped herself to a glass. "You know, I've never heard a man talk about his daughter the way your father talks about you. The two of you must be very close."

"Extremely close," said Heidi. "No one could _ever_ come between us," she emphasized.

"Your father is very dedicated to what he does," Melanie went on. "Men like him are really hard to come by. I'm so glad to have met him."

So Sydney said to sabotage her, huh? "Yeah, a lot of girls have said that," Heidi said lightly.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Melanie.

"Oh, you know my dad; he's a real ladies' man," said Heidi. "There's something about him that women find _irresistible_. You're not the first to fall for him, believe me. Hmmm, I'd say you're number… thirty-one or so."

"I'm number thirty-one?!" Melanie exclaimed.

"Oh, I'm not even sure; I only started counted when I was about four… who knows how many there could have been before then. Yeah, Dad's gone out with lots of women. You didn't know that?"

"No, I didn't," Melanie said slowly.

"Oh yeah, every week it was a different woman. Why, I think he once even had four different girls over in the same week. The thing is, all the girls he's dated have had dark hair; brunettes, or black hair, like mine," said Heidi, twirling a strand of hair between two fingers. "You're the first blonde he's dated, actually. 

"I got used to it after a while, though… I mean, a daughter can't help her father's handsome good looks. And believe me, I was certainly no deterrent to some of those ladies… The kind I _really_ hate, though, are the ones who are after him for his money; I mean, sure, the long hair and irresistible charm are a perk, but there's nothing better than to be the girlfriend—or wife—of the man who owns and runs the most profitable business here on L2. But you're not like that, are you, Melanie?" Heidi said slyly.

"Of… of course not," said Melanie, taken aback. "I love your father for who he is."

"Oh good, because he's got a ton of faults," said Heidi, now thoroughly enjoying herself. "Have you ever been inside the house? He can be a complete slob if he doesn't have anyone to keep him in check. He never does the laundry; dirty clothes end up wherever they happen to land. He leaves take-out cartons and pizza boxes everywhere; I think I saw mold on a week-old cheese pizza once. Dad can also be a real couch potato; he can plop himself in front of the TV for hours on end and he wouldn't even notice if the house burned down.

"You've gone to dinner with him once or twice, right? To really see him in action you ought to take him to a buffet. But I'm warning you, be prepared to pay extra, cuz he eats like it's going out of style. Oh, and doesn't he dance like he's got two left feet? I once tried to teach him how to waltz, and I was limping for a week… 

"You should hear him when he's working in the garage… whoo, he can curse like a sailor. Not to mention how much hair he sheds; you have to vacuum practically once a week. I'd hate to see what the clogs in his shower drain are like… Oh, and sometimes Dad calls himself Shinigami. It's on his license plate. It's Japanese for 'The God of Death.' You see, during the Eve Wars, he—"

Melanie cut her off. "You know, I don't think I want to hear anymore."

"Well, you know what they say," said Heidi. "'Don't marry a man thinking you can change him.' Lemonade?"

"Actually, I think I'd like another," said Melanie, holding out her glass.

Heidi suddenly had an idea. She purposely missed the glass and poured lemonade all over Melanie's skirt. "Watch it!" Melanie cried, leaping up.

"Oops. Clumsy me," said Heidi. "Did I get you wet, Melanie?"

"Just a little bit, Syd," Melanie said with a forced smile.

"I'm _so_ sorry, Melanie," said Heidi, not feeling the least bit sorry at all. "Would you like a towel or something?"

"No, no, I'll be fine," said Melanie, despite the fact that her skirt was soaking wet.

"Are you sure?" Heidi asked with feigned concern. "Because I'd hate for your skirt to be ruined…"

"It _is_ ruined."

"Oh _no_, I feel absolutely _terrible_ now," said Heidi, positively thrilled with her achievement.

"Don't worry about it, I have another outfit in the car," said Melanie.

"D'you want me to get it for you?"

"NO! No, it's perfectly all right, I can go get it myself," said Melanie, backing away and hurriedly walking to her car. 

Heidi smirked as she watched Melanie go to her car. Once she was out of sight, Heidi ran inside the house, grabbing as many clothes off the floor as she could and dumping them all over the powder room, gingerly draping a pair of smiley-face boxers on the doorknob. She quickly ran back outside as Melanie came back from her car with a garment bag. "Could I use your bathroom for a sec?" Melanie asked.

"No problem," said Heidi. "Just go right through that door and turn right. Powder room's last door on the left."

"Okay… thanks," said Melanie, going inside the house.

'Give _up_, Melanie,' thought Heidi, 'you know you can't win…' 

Melanie came out five minutes later, looking a little shell-shocked. "Um… was I just in the powder room or the laundry room?"

"Nope, that was the powder room," said Heidi. "We ran out of space in the laundry room to put all our clothes, and the powder room was nearest to it, so we decided—"

"I get the picture," said Melanie, sitting back down. "Oh look, your father's back," she said, looking extremely relieved.

Duo walked back over to them. "So, did you ladies find something to talk about while I was gone?"

"Oh, you could definitely say that," said Melanie, pressing her lips together in a thin line as she looked at Heidi, who simply smiled cherubically at her dad as if nothing had happened at all.

"Great," said Duo. "So, I was thinking, why don't the three of us all go somewhere together to celebrate?"

"Celebrate what?" asked Heidi.

Duo and Melanie exchanged a quick look that was not lost on Heidi.

"Your… your homecoming, of course," Melanie said quickly. "Actually, I was thinking we could go to the L2 country club for a nice afternoon outdoors."

"Sounds good to me," said Duo. "That okay with you, Syd?"

Heidi sweatdropped. "But Dad, you stink at golf…"

~*~

"Whoops," said Duo as he sent yet another golf ball into a water hazard with a plop.

"Um, Dad, you seem to be… fifty-seven over par," said Heidi as she looked down at the scorecard in her hand, "that can't be right, can it?"

"Who knows; I haven't gotten a golf ball into a hole all day," said Duo, shrugging. "I think it's time to call it quits."

"Probably," said Heidi, "since we have no more golf balls left."

"Not bad for your old man, huh?"

Heidi laughed. "You're a hopeless case, Dad," she said. "So really, what're we doing out here? Because you're obviously an incompetent at golf."

"Hey, hey, easy on the insults there," said Duo, putting his arm around Heidi. "Sydney, there's something really important I'd like to talk to you about," he said, his tone becoming a little more serious.

"Actually, there's something really important I'd like to talk to you about too," said Heidi.

"Oh, well then, why don't you go ahead," said Duo.

"It's okay, Dad, you go first."

"Nope, ladies first, I insist."

"Okay; well, actually, I want to talk to you about Mom," said Heidi.

Duo froze. "Y-your mom?" he stammered, a little thrown. "Well… that is… what—we've already talked about your mom before, haven't we?"

"Well yeah, but, see, I don't even _know_ her," said Heidi. "All I have is half an old picture; I've never heard her voice, I've never been able to play dress-up with her things, or smell her perfume, or get to have those mother-daughter fights that every girl has—I know none of this!"

Duo looked stricken. "But—you never cared about all that before. You said you were perfectly happy being just the two of us."

"Oh, but I really am," Heidi said earnestly. "It's just that… when a girl gets to a certain age, she really misses her mom, you know?"

"Oh. _Ohhhhh_," said Duo. "You mean talking about… certain things?"

"Yeah," said Heidi, looking imploringly into her dad's face.

"Oh, well, I guess we really haven't talked about that stuff, have we?" Duo took a look around, scratching his head nervously. "Well, this is kind of a weird place, but I guess it's good as any… Well, let's get this over with. There's something about girls' bodies… when girls reach your age, they go through this thing—uh, process—called… puberty. You start going through changes that, physically, won't make you a little girl anymore—"

Heidi looked confused. "I don't know what—"

"Just hold off on the questions till I'm finished, okay please?" Duo was starting to break into a sweat. "All right… how can I put this… it all starts when glands in your brain start releasing chemicals called hormones…"

'Oh God, he thinks we're having The Talk,' thought Heidi. 'Better put him out of his misery.' "Dad," she said, "I already know all about that stuff."

Duo blinked several times. "Well then what the heck were we just talking about?"

"Well what were you talking about?"

"Well, uh…" Duo scratched his head again. "I have no idea…" He looked up at the artificial sky. "It's getting a little hot out here, whaddaya say we go back inside for something nice and cold to drink?"

"Yeah, Dad," said Heidi, "all this heat must be fogging up your brain…"

"Hey, didn't I tell you to go easy on the insults?"

"But they're so easy to make…"

"Yeah, but not at your dad's expense…"

~*~

Melanie narrowed her gaze as she spotted Duo and Heidi coming back from the golf course. "There she is now. What I wouldn't give to eject her out into space."

"Just keep smiling, dear." Maureen Prescott took a sip of her mint julep, sitting back in her lounge chair as if it were a throne. "It won't do you any good antagonizing the girl at this point; think of the millions you'll have at your disposal soon enough."

"I can always count on you for advice, Mother," said Melanie. She held up her glass. "Here's to marrying rich men and living it up for the rest of our lives."

The glasses chinked in the air. "I just thought of something," spoke Maureen, "your younger sister and the eldest Winner boy are about the same age, aren't they?"

"You know, I love it when you plan ahead, Mother." Melanie put on a smile and waved to Duo. "Duo! Over here, darling!"

"Hey, ladies," said Duo, giving Melanie a quick kiss. "Mrs. Prescott, you won't have met my daughter before. I'd like to introduce you to Sydney."

Maureen's whole aspect immediately changed. "Oh my goodness, what a darling little girl!" She gave Heidi's cheek a sharp pinch. Heidi winced in pain. "She's absolutely _adorable_…"

"Did you tell her?" Melanie whispered to Duo as Maureen began to pepper Heidi with questions.

"Well, I started to, and then…"

Melanie rolled her eyes in exasperation. "I brought Mother all the way out here so we could—"

"It just wasn't the right time, honey." Duo gave her another kiss to pacify her. "I've got it all taken care of, okay?" He walked over to Maureen and Heidi. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Prescott, but Sydney and I have got to get going. There's a big shipment from L1 coming in later this evening, and I gotta be there to help the guys out."

"Oh, well, perhaps Sydney would like to stay with us for dinner," suggested Maureen.

Heidi looked as though she would rather eat glass. "Actually," said Duo, "I could use Sydney's help, so we'd best be going. I'll see you tomorrow, okay babe?" Duo leaned in for a longer kiss with Melanie.

Heidi coughed loudly, cutting the kiss short. Duo and Melanie broke apart. "We _really_ gotta be getting back," said Heidi, grabbing her father's arm. "See ya!" she said, dragging him away.

Melanie glared at Heidi's retreating figure. "First thing I'll be doing as Mrs. Duo Maxwell is sending that conniving little two-faced brat off to boarding school in _Mars_…"

~*~

TBC…


	18. Cat's Out of the Bag

Author's Note: Many thanks to Psycho Kitty for the German translation! Danke!

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

"Hey Syd, you up for a bike ride?"

"What?" Heidi staggered under the weight of a laundry basket heaped with dirty clothing, doing what seemed to be her millionth load of laundry. "Sorry, Dad, could you say that again?"

Duo leaned against the doorframe of the laundry room. "Well, the guys and I will be off on lunch break in about fifteen minutes, so I was thinking we could go ride our bikes to the park and have a picnic lunch there or something."

"I think that's a great idea," said Heidi, dropping the heavy laundry basket next to the washing machine with a sigh of relief. "I'll go make some sandwiches. How many would you like?"

"Four… no, better make it five," said Duo. "Don't forget to pack the extra jar of pickles."

"And three root beers, right?"

"You know me like a book, babe." Duo winked and left the laundry room, heading back to the garage.

'Finally, some time with Dad,' thought Heidi, glad that her father had set aside a little father-daughter time for the two of them. For the past couple of days, it seemed like he was always busy, whether it was working in the garage, or, Heidi thought with a frown, being with Melanie. Heidi wasn't sure how much longer the charade would last, especially now with Melanie in the picture.

'At least Melanie won't be around today…'

~*~

After eating their lunches, Heidi and Duo went for a couple of circuits around the park's bike path. "Well, I was thinking," Duo was saying, "since you liked summer camp so much, how would you like it if we went camping for a few days? We'd be going to the L2 Forest Preserve, so it won't be exactly the same as it would be on Earth, but…"

"Camping? That would be great, Dad," said Heidi.

"Yeah, I'm thinking of inviting Melanie along…"

"Melanie?" said Heidi. "I don't know, she doesn't seem like the camping type to me, Dad." 'No, don't talk about Melanie, not _now_…'

"Speakin' of Melanie," said Duo, "what do you think of her, anyway?"

'Dodge the question.' "In what way, Dad? As a businesswoman? As your client? As your friend? As your…"

"Just… as a person. Whatever comes to mind."

"Well… she's pretty, she has nice hair, a nice car, has good taste in clothes, if a little expensive… She seems kinda high-maintenance, if you ask me, but that's just the impression that I get."

"Oh." Duo paused for a moment. "Well, do you get along with her? Is she nice to you?"

"Yeah, she seems to like me," said Heidi. 'Where is this line of questioning going?'

"And you like her too, right?"

"Um… sure," Heidi lied. "Honestly, Dad, she's a complete stranger to me. Why are you asking me all these things?"

"Well… because, honey, Melanie is a very special person to me. I know she doesn't seem like my type, but beneath her beauty queen exterior is a woman I've grown to love." Duo's bike came to a stop. "What I'm trying to tell you is… well, Melanie and I are—"

Heidi became increasingly alarmed as she began to sense the real reason her dad had brought her to the park. There was only one thing she could think of doing at the moment. "Race you back to the house, Dad!" she exclaimed, pedaling out of there as fast as her bike would allow.

"Sydney!" Duo shouted after her. "I'm trying to tell you something!"

~*~

Heidi jumped off her bike and ran into the garage, out of breath. "What am I supposed to do now?!" she exclaimed out loud into the empty garage, pacing back and forth. "I can't handle this by myself, I just can't; I'm in way over my head! I never expected anything like this; how was I supposed to know this was going to happen?! What am I going to do?!"

Howard's head appeared from behind the hood of a car. "What are you going to do about what?"

Heidi gave a small scream. "Howard! You scared me! What are you doing here?"

"I _work _here, remember?"

Heidi immediately wished she had gone to the house instead of the garage. "Yes, but shouldn't you be out eating lunch or something?"

"Well, let's think about that," said Howard. "I had to send the guys out to go eat at a fast-food restaurant for the third day in a row, because somebody, I can't _imagine_ who, forgot to put our lunches out on the picnic tables yet again."

"I—I forgot," was all Heidi could say.

"You know," Howard went on, "you've been acting a little weird ever since you came back from camp, Syd."

"What—what do you mean?" Heidi asked nervously.

"For one thing, you used to wake up everybody at the crack of dawn, jumping at the gun to work in the garage. And now you've holed yourself up in the laundry room."

"Well, somebody's got to make sure everyone's got clean clothes to wear," said Heidi.

"Or how, out of the blue, you've been able to reprogram Jeff's computer to calculate financial figures using program commands that he didn't even know _existed_, when you used to be as bad at computers as your dad."

"Heh, he told you about that?"

"Or why your house, which used to resemble our junkyard in terms of tidiness, is all of a sudden as neat as a pin." Howard narrowed his gaze. "If I didn't know better, I'd say it's almost as if you were…"

"Almost as if I were who?" Heidi asked. 'If I can get Howard on my side…'

"Nah, forget it, it's too impossible," said Howard, turning to leave. "Forget I said anything."

"Almost as if I were… Heidi?"

Howard turned around. "How… how do you know about Heidi?"

"I _am_ Heidi."

Howard took off his glasses and stared at her in shock. "You're _Heidi_?"

At that moment, Duo walked into the garage. "Sydney, _there_ you are, I was lookin' all over for ya." He looked at Howard. "Howard, is something wrong?"

Next to Duo, Heidi's expression pleaded with Howard not to say anything. "It's just that… she's just so precious, and soon she'll be all grown up someday and…" Howard gave a huge sniffle. "She's like the granddaughter I never had." Howard blew his nose on his car rag. "'Scuse me…" He left the garage, now positively bawling.

Duo stared after him. "Sometimes I wonder if he's in his second infancy or something…" He turned to Heidi. "Sydney, why'd you run off like that? We really need to talk."

Heidi ran over to the car Howard had vacated and began plunking around under the hood, avoiding her father's gaze. "Sure Dad, what was it you wanted to tell me?"

"Sydney, this is really _important_." Heidi barely drew her hands back in time as Duo shut the hood of the car. "I'm being serious here."

"All right, Dad, shoot."

"Well…" Duo hesitated. "How would you like to make Melanie… a part of the family?"

"Really? Awwww, that's so sweet of you, Dad," said Heidi. "We've never really been able to find any blood relatives, which is why I think adoption's such a great thing to do. I mean, I've always wanted a big sister."

"Huh?"

"I always knew you had a big heart, Dad," said Heidi, hugging him. "Only… Melanie's parents are still alive, aren't they? How will they feel about the adoption?"

"Adoption?" Duo shook his head. "Sydney, I'm not going to adopt her, I'm going to marry her."

"_Marry_ her? That's INSANE!!!" Heidi cried. "How can you marry someone young enough to be my older sister?! I can't believe this!!!" She began to rant in German. "Sie machen einen RIESIGEN Fehler! Haben Sie vollkommen Ihre Meinung verloren?! Sie kennen sie kaum sogar! Wie können Sie das zu mir tun?!? Ich kann nicht glauben, dass das geschieht…"****

"Sydney, please don't be like this," said Duo. "Just calm down… wait a minute, you can speak German?"

Heidi stopped in mid-rant. "Um… um, I learned it at camp." She took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm sorry. Let's discuss this calmly and rationally like calm, rational people."

"And in English, please. Look, what has gotten into you lately? First you say you want a mom, then you completely pop your top when I tell you I'm engaged to Melanie…"

"It's—it's just… just… Dad, you _can't_ marry her! You'll completely ruin _everything_!!!" she cried, twisting away from Duo and running out of the garage.

"Sydney!" Duo decided not to go after her. He sat down in a folding chair and put his face in his hands.

The honk of a car horn caused him look up to see Melanie's silver Mercedes pull into the parking lot in front of the garage. She got out of the car and sat on Duo's lap, putting her arms around him. "Hi, hon. You look stressed, baby; what's wrong?"

"I told Sydney," said Duo.

"You did? What happened?"

"She went _ballistic_. Started screaming at me in German. I didn't even know she _spoke_ German!" Duo sighed heavily. "I just don't understand her these days."

Melanie patted Duo's shoulder soothingly. "Don't be upset with yourself; this kind of reaction is totally normal. I'd be worried if she didn't react this way. She's only eleven; children's emotions can be very fragile. She's probably never experienced something this major in her life. Look, why don't I talk to her? Men can put things badly sometimes; what she needs right now is an honest, woman-to-woman talk."

"I don't know… no… yes…" Duo sighed again. "I don't think she's willing to talk to me right now."

"Don't worry, she'll come around," said Melanie. "They always do."

~*~

Heidi sat at one of the picnic tables between the two houses, morosely playing solitaire. She was too upset at the moment to think about what to do next.

The brisk clicking of high-heels on the concrete indicated Melanie's presence. "Hello, Sydney. Can I join you?"

"Sure," Heidi said, shrugging.

Melanie sat down across from Heidi. "You must have been pretty surprised when you found out that your father and I are engaged."

"Surprised doesn't even begin to describe it."

Melanie nodded. "I can understand where you're coming from. For the last eleven years, you've been the only girl in your father's life."

"Exactly. And I'd really like to keep it that way. You understand, don't you?"

"Sydney, I'm afraid you're kind of missing my point. Your father and I have found true love with each other. You wouldn't want to destroy something special like that, would you?"

Heidi laughed sardonically. "I'm sorry, but I think I know _exactly_ what my dad finds so special about you. You're young and beautiful and sexy in all the right places. I mean, my dad's human and he's male. It's a recipe for disaster when it comes to women like you."

Melanie raised an eyebrow. "Boy, your father _really_ underestimates you."

"But you won't, will you, Melanie?"

There was a nasty pause.

"Now look here," said Melanie, trying to control her anger, "you've had your father all to yourself for eleven years and now it's time for you to step aside. I happen to adore your father. He's _exactly_ the kind of man I've always wanted to marry. You're no longer the only 'babe' in Duo Maxwell's life. Get used to it."

"Well, if that's so, then my father's money has nothing to do with your desire to marry him, right?"

"You are _unbelievably_ out of line, young lady." Melanie stood up in one haughty sweep. "So, do you pull this stunt on all the women who date your father? Because it won't work on me. I'm going to marry your father in two weeks whether you like it or not, and a little thing like you is certainly not going to stop me. So if you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of my way. Is that clear?"

Heidi smirked. "As a bell."

~*~

TBC…


	19. Telling the Truth

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

Sydney Maxwell was bored.

For the past two hours, Chang Wufei had been over at their house on Preventers business, going through stacks of files and papers with Hilde in her office. Hilde, of course, had confined Sydney inside the house, lest she do something else to Wufei's recently repaired car. Sydney giggled at that; after all, she knew just as much about repairing cars as she knew about sabotaging them…

On the other hand, Sydney had spectacularly crashed Heidi's computer the week before, having somehow completely wiped the entire memory core after attempting to load one too many computer games onto it. Now she couldn't even get so much as a blinking cursor. Figuring that it was something Heidi could probably fix herself, Sydney decided against approaching her mother for help. The rest of Heidi's room wasn't in much better shape either; it looked like a Gundam had gone trampling through it or something. Yep, she had pretty much made a mess of everything, Sydney thought proudly. She had absolutely no intention of cleaning up, however; there were differences between her and her sister that were simply going to remain that way.

However, when it came to Uncle Wu… 'I know!' Sydney thought suddenly. 'I'll make my special Oreos!' Sydney went downstairs and grabbed a package of Oreos from the pantry. She had once done this to her dad… Giggling madly, Sydney opened the package and took out about fifteen of them. One by one, she twisted them open and licked the frosting from the center.

Sydney then went into the bathroom and triumphantly returned with a tube of toothpaste. Working carefully, she squeezed toothpaste onto each Oreo half and sandwiched them back together, creating… well, mint Oreos. She put them all onto one plate and set aside some normal Oreos on another plate for her mom, taking care to remember which was which. 

After pouring some milk into two tall glasses, Sydney put everything on a tray and went into her mom's office. "Hey Mom?"

Hilde looked up from a stack of papers she was reading. "Yes, what is it, Heidi?"

"Well, I was thinking you might be hungry after reading all those papers, so I brought you something to snack on." Sydney found a clear space on the desk and set the tray down. "Milk and Oreos; not exactly brain food, I know, but they're just _so_ much fun to dunk."

"Into the milk?" asked Wufei. "Seeing as I'm lactose intolerant…"

"Oh yeah, that's right, I forgot," said Sydney. 'That just means he won't have anything to wash them down with…' "But you can still eat the Oreos. Go on, dig in."

"We _could_ use a little break, Wufei," said Hilde.

Wufei shrugged. "Why not?" Sydney watched in eager anticipation as he reached for a toothpaste Oreo…

The whirring of the fax machine caught everyone's attention just then. Wufei paused, the Oreo halfway to his mouth. "I'd better get that," he said.

"No, no, I'll get it," said Sydney. "You just eat your Oreos…" She went over to the fax machine and watched in dismay as the fax slithered out. It was a detailed sketch of Deathscythe, with a speech bubble saying 'Help! Emergency!!!'

Sydney looked from the fax to her mom and Uncle Wu and back. How was she going to explain this? Thinking quickly, she shuffled the paper in the feed tray and grabbed a blank sheet. "That's strange; it's just a blank piece of paper. Guess the fax didn't go through." She began to make for the door, hiding the fax behind her back. "Um… I gotta go to the bathroom. Yeah. Enjoy your Oreos." She bolted, not even sticking around to see Wufei's reaction to the toothpaste Oreos.

Wufei went back to his papers and took a bite from his Oreo. "Bleaaargh… toothpaste!"

~*~

Sydney ran up to Heidi's room and dialed the operator. "Yes… I'd like to make a collect call to L2, please…"

At the same time, Heidi was pacing back and forth in Sydney's room, anxiously awaiting Sydney's call. She pounced on the vidphone the moment it began to beep. "Hello? Yes, I'll accept the charges…" Sydney's face appeared on the screen. "Sydney! Thank goodness you got my fax! I'm absolutely desperate!"

"What the hell're you doing sending me a fax like that?!" Sydney exclaimed, not bothering to keep her voice down. "Mom would have gotten it if I hadn't happened to be in the room right then!"

"That's the _least_ of our problems!" Heidi's expression was frantic. "Sydney… Dad's getting married!"

Sydney wasn't sure if she was hearing properly. "Say what?!"

"_Married_! Going to the altar! Tying the knot! Getting hitched!" Heidi cried. "The wedding is in two weeks and—and if we don't do something quick, we're goners," she moaned despairingly.

"Dad's getting _married_?" Sydney repeated. "How could you let this happen?!"

"_Me_?!" Heidi exclaimed. "You were the one who refused to help me when I asked you for it!"

"You were supposed to break them up before it got any more serious!"

"Do you think I didn't try?! She's not stupid, you know! Everything I did just made her more determined to marry Dad!!"

Sydney took a deep breath. "Okay. Let's stop playing the blame game here. Mom's going to be busy for the rest of the day so I'll tell her first thing in the morning. What should I say?"

"Well… we can't tell her everything yet," said Heidi. "Tell her about how we switched at camp, but not the part about how we're trying to get her and Dad back together. Absolutely _do not_ tell her that Dad's getting married. Howard and I are still putting a plan together, but I'll call you about when and where we'll all meet."

Sydney raised an eyebrow. "You told Howard?"

"He pretty much figured it out on his own, but don't worry, he's on our side. He says he'll help in any way he can."

"Good ol' Howard," said Sydney. "Well, I guess I should go then; I gotta figure out what to say. Good luck, okay Heidi?"

"Same to you," said Heidi. "Don't worry, everything will be fine."

"Thanks." Sydney smiled, trying to be brave. "Call me soon."

"I will. Give Mom a kiss for me, okay? Bye, Syd." Heidi disconnected and Sydney's screen went black.

Sydney sighed heavily. 'Come on, you knew you had to do this sooner or later…'

To her horror, she heard someone behind her clear their throat. Swallowing fearfully, Sydney slowly turned around to find Wufei standing in the doorway. "H—hi, Uncle Wu… How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough." Wufei walked into the room and shut the door behind him. "Perhaps you would like to explain to me what is going on here, _Maxwell_…"

"What—whatever do you mean?" Sydney said nervously.

"Do not play games with me," said Wufei. "You're the twin that's supposed to be living with Duo. It's Sydney, isn't it? Give me one good reason why I shouldn't go back downstairs right now and tell your mother who you are and what you've done."

Sydney thought for a moment. "Because… you know that I should really be the one to do it?"

Wufei blinked. "You don't know how shocking it is to see a Maxwell _thinking_… Your mother's genes must have some kind of redeeming value after all. All right, I'll agree to keep your secret… Just tell me this. How did the two of you, a pair of eleven-year-olds, manage to dupe everyone all this time?"

"Dumb luck?" said Sydney, shrugging. "Howard's the only one who figured it out, and that's just cuz Heidi wouldn't know her way around a garage if she had a map. Dad's been too busy drooling all over Melanie, and I guess the rest of you weren't paying close enough attention to the signs. Would you have figured it out if you hadn't been eavesdropping?"

"…No," Wufei admitted.

"Really, Uncle Wu, you should be ashamed of yourself; after all, where would Heidi have learned to hotwire a car? Liane must not have told you about all the chaos we caused at camp. You should ask her sometime; it was _wild_… You know what, it's really thanks to you that Heidi and I met each other at camp; if you hadn't told my mom to send Heidi to camp for crashing your computer, why, none of this could have ever happened. How'd you like the Oreos, by the way? Dad ate three before he figured out what was different about them… Aren't you _glad_ there are two of us? Now Heidi can crash your computer, and I can crash your car… Heidi was right, it _is_ fun to torment you…"

Wufei held up a hand. "Enough, enough. I see you are just as much of a chatterbox as your father…" He walked toward the door and opened it. "Whatever you are planning to do, keep me out of it, okay?"

"Sure thing, Uncle Wu," said Sydney, grinning.

Wufei shook his head and left the room. "_Two_ Maxwells. Nataku help us all."

~*~

Sydney stood in front of her mirror the next morning, trying to decide how to break the news to her mother. "Mom, you won't believe me when I tell you this, but… no, no… Mom, I'm not exactly who you think I am… ugh… Mom, there's something really important you need to know about me… Mom, I haven't been completely honest with you since I came back from camp…" Sydney shook her head. "This isn't working. I guess I'll just have to wing it." She went down the hallway to her mother's bedroom door. It was slightly open; she knocked softly and peeked inside, hesitating to go in.

Hilde was sitting upright in bed, talking on a headset phone and writing on a legal pad. "Yes, Commander Une… I'll have it ready by next week… I'll be sure to tell him… Twenty copies? I'll send them out… Yes ma'am. Goodbye." She took off the headset and looked up. "Good morning, Heidi. Come on in," she said, patting the bed. Sydney crossed the room and climbed in next to Hilde.

Hilde wrote some last few notes on the pad of paper. "I just have to run some papers to the Preventers office, and then we'll have the rest of the day to ourselves." She looked at Sydney, who was nervously twisting her fingers in her lap. "What's wrong? You're not sick, are you?"

"No, I'm fine," said Sydney, feeling far from it. "Mom, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure. Go right ahead," said Hilde.

"Mom, if you found out I'd been keeping a really big, important secret from you, would you be mad at me?"

"Well…" Hilde thought for a moment. "I would think that you wouldn't _need_ to keep secrets from me, so I might be a little upset. But as long as you tell me the truth, I think we could work it out. Why do you ask?"

"Because that's what I'm going to do. Tell you the truth," said Sydney. "But you have to promise to tell me the truth too."

"That's fair," said Hilde.

"Okay." Sydney took a deep breath. "Mom, I met a girl at camp. Her name is Sydney Maxwell."

Hilde's eyes widened. "You… you've met Sydney?"

"Yeah. At first we hated each other's guts, and after we got ourselves into a boatload of trouble we ended up getting confined in a cabin together for four weeks. After a while, we got to talking and… pieces of the puzzle started to fall in place." Sydney paused. "Once we realized we were twins, we decided to… switch places. Heidi had never met Dad and I had never met you… and so here I am."

Hilde's eyes filled up with tears. "Oh my God… Sydney…" She took her daughter into her arms and hugged her tightly. "My beautiful little girl…"

"I just don't understand," said Sydney, "why you kept it from us… why we never knew about each other… why you've been just a face on a picture for most of my life…"

"Oh Sydney…" Hilde gently wiped the tears on Sydney's face. "I never meant to hurt either of you… Your father and I were barely twenty when the two of you were born… we were just so young and confused, and our relationship wasn't working out… It just seemed like the best thing to do at the time… There hasn't been a day when I've looked at Heidi and haven't thought of you. I'm so sorry for separating you and Heidi like this."

"Are you going to have to switch us back?" Sydney asked, looking away.

Hilde sighed. "Legally, you belong to your father and Heidi belongs to me."

"It's just that… I don't want to go back to the way it was before," said Sydney. "Now that I've met you and Heidi, I don't want to live apart from you guys."

"I agree. I've missed out on your life for eleven years and I want to make up for it," said Hilde. "I guess we'll all just have to get together and work something out."

Sydney smiled. "I guess we will."

~*~

TBC…


	20. Calm Before the Storm

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

"Are you sure this is going to work?"

"I'm _positive_ it will," said Howard, making last-minute adjustments to his end of a two-way transmitter. "I assembled it myself. I'm not just a simple mechanic, ya know. I can do all sorts of electronics."

Heidi tried not to scratch at the wireless microphone in her ear. "You're sure I'll get the signal? It won't conk out on me or anything?"

"Of course not; how else do you think Treize Khushrenada gave his fancy speeches during the war? These things have stood the test of time. Trust me, you'll be fine."

Heidi took a deep breath. "So why am I so nervous?"

"Just pretend you're acting in a school play or something," said Howard. "You don't even have to memorize the lines, kiddo. You're gonna do great." He patted Heidi on the back. "Break a leg."

"Let's just hope Melanie doesn't break it _for_ me…"

~*~

Heidi stepped out onto the patio where Duo and Melanie were sitting at a picnic table, discussing ideas for their honeymoon. "Dad? Melanie? May I have a word?"

Duo looked up. "Oh, _finally_ my daughter decides to talk to me, after giving me the silent treatment for the past three days. Well, Sydney, what made you change your mind?"

Heidi cleared her throat, signaling Howard to begin. From his location in the garage, Howard began to read from the speech he and Heidi had prepared. "Dad, Melanie, I've come to apologize for overreacting about your engagement. Over the past few days, I've come to realize that…"

"…the two of you really love each other," said Heidi. "I figured that, since the two of you are getting married, the three of us should start our life as a family on good terms." Mentally reminding herself to yell at Howard later for making her say all this garbage, Heidi went on, "Melanie, I'm very sorry about the way I've been treating you and the horrible things I've said to you. I've been behaving in a spoiled, childish manner and have been nothing but rude and disrespectful towards you. I sincerely apologize for my behavior and I hope we can start over and develop a close bond with each other." Heidi clasped her hands together imploringly. "Can you ever forgive me?"

Melanie blinked, taken aback. "Well of course I'll forgive you," she said. "You don't know how happy it makes me that you've finally accepted our engagement."

Heidi turned to her dad. "Dad, I'm really sorry for ignoring you. If Melanie makes you happy, then I'm happy."

Duo completely fell for it. "Aw, thanks, Syd." He gave Heidi a hug. "It's nice to have you talking to me again. I'm glad we were all able to work this out."

"Me too." Heidi sat down at the picnic table. "So, you guys are planning your honeymoon, huh?"

"Yes, we are," said Melanie. "I'd like to go to Europe, but your father seems to insist on going to an island near the Equator…"

"If I could make a suggestion," said Heidi, "why don't you guys go down to Earth, check things out? I mean, the wedding's not for another week-and-a-half, right? This way you can check out a ton of places. See what you like the best. Or you guys could compromise. You could have the wedding in Europe, and the honeymoon on a tropical island. That way, you guys both can have what you want."

"Actually, that _is_ a good idea," said Melanie. "I really don't want to have the wedding here in the colonies…"

"I wouldn't mind having the wedding on Earth," said Duo. "Seems better that way for all the guests… space travel can be a nightmare."

"So," said Melanie, "if we're going to take a look around in Europe, which spaceport should we go to?"

"Well, Brussels is the biggest one, isn't it?" said Heidi. "Since we haven't decided where we'll have the wedding, I don't think it matters which spaceport we arrive in. And while we're there, we might as well check out the city, right?"

"Sounds good to me," said Duo. "So when do we leave?"

"That's up to you guys," said Heidi.

"I don't see why we can't leave tomorrow," said Melanie.

"Well then it's set," said Heidi. "I'll be upstairs, packing if you need me. See ya," she said, sauntering inside the house. 'Wow, I never expected it to be _this_ easy…'

Melanie watched her go with a sense of unease. Somehow, she couldn't help but feel that Heidi had something up her sleeve…

~*~

The contents of Hilde Schbeiker's closet were strewn all over her bedroom; unfortunately, none of them had yet made it into the still-empty suitcase that was lying open on the bed. Hilde was running around the room in a terrycloth robe, her hair half-in, half-out of a set of curlers. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she said out loud to herself. "I mean, the hotel's not even a half-hour away from here, so why am I stressing over what to pack? You'd think the man could just come over to my house, but _nooooo_, he wants to _waste_ his money, at the swankiest hotel in Brussels, no less. He always did like to overdo things. What is he trying to do, impress me? Ugh, if he didn't make me so crazy, I'd still be married to him." Hilde glanced in the mirror. "Is that a grey hair?!?"

Sydney walked into the room and flinched at the mess, even with her own messy habits. "Uh… Mom?"

"Yes, what is it, Sydney?" asked Hilde from inside the closet. "I'm a little busy here…"

"I got the reservations from the hotel," said Sydney. "We're in… room 443."

"Remind me again _why_ we've got to go to the hotel in the first place?"

"Because Dad wants a neutral meeting place," Sydney said instantly, providing the excuse she and Heidi had invented. "Things could get awkward if he came here to the house, you know? Especially if he has to stay longer than a day…"

"If you ask me, he's just _scared_ to come to the house," said Hilde. "He always did avoid the whole confrontational thing." Hilde grabbed a lavender button-up blouse with long sleeves and an ankle-length black skirt from her closet. "I suppose this will do…"

Sydney watched her mother fold them and place them in the suitcase. "Mom, is that what you're packing?"

"Obviously, since they're going in the suitcase," said Hilde. "Why?"

Sydney reached into the suitcase and held the blouse up appraisingly. "Mom, you can't go to meet Dad in these clothes."  
  


"Oh, and what's wrong with them?" asked Hilde, holding up another blouse. "I'll have you know that these are good, sturdy, practical clothes."

Sydney shrugged. "Suit yourself, Mom… I'm just saying, you and Dad haven't seen each other in eleven years… far be it for me to care if you want to make a good impression…" she said, leaving the room.

Hilde looked at the classy, but plain white blouse she was holding. She hung it back in the closet and went out into the hallway. "Sydney?"

Sydney poked her head around a corner. "Yeah Mom?"

"How would you like to go dress shopping?"

~*~

Hilde twirled around in front of the dressing room mirror, wearing a knee-length navy blue halter dress. "It's nice, but… I don't know, it's just not really me."

"I'll go look again, Mom," Sydney said determinedly, getting up.

"You sure, Syd?" asked Hilde. "We've been at this for four hours… I'm about ready to give up…"

"We're not going back until we find you a dress," Sydney said firmly. "Stay there."

Hilde shrugged. "Well, I suppose I'll try on the silver next…"

Sydney went back outside to the racks of dresses. 'Mom's dress is in here somewhere, I just _know_ it,' she thought. A glint of red at the far end of the store caught her eye. 'Hmmm, I didn't see that there before…' She made her way over to the rack and began looking through the dresses. There; it was sandwiched in between two red, satin dresses with full skirts. She grabbed the dress from the rack and held it up.

Sydney couldn't believe her luck. It was a slinky, floor-length red dress with a plunging backline; spaghetti straps criss-crossed once in the back, and a slit on one side of the dress went up to mid-thigh. Thousands of tiny little red beads were hand-sewn into the fabric of the dress, making the dress glitter as it caught the light. 'Dad's going to need a blood transfusion from the nosebleed he'll get when he sees Mom in this dress,' Sydney thought gleefully. She checked the size; the dress was a size 4. Perfect. 

Hilde frowned as she looked at the silver dress in the mirror. It looked like it had been designed for a woman with a bigger bust in mind. Hilde sighed. Well, if all else failed, she could always wear the black dress she kept in her closet for black-tie Preventers functions…

"Mom! Mom!" Sydney exclaimed, running into the dressing room. Hilde pushed her curtain aside to see Sydney's face flushed with triumph. "I've found the _perfect_ dress. Here you go."

Hilde drew back upon seeing the red dress. "Oh my goodness, I couldn't possibly wear _that_."

"Mom, this dress was _meant_ for you," said Sydney. "It's the only dress of its kind left on the rack, and it's in _your_ size. Whoever oversees this kind of serendipity wanted you to have it."

"But—"

"C'mon, try it on, Mom. Then you can show Dad _exactly_ what he's been missing out on for the last eleven years."

Hilde smiled in spite of herself. "You really are your father's daughter." She took the dress from Sydney. "Consider it sold."

~*~

Duo Maxwell was in the garage, doing some fine-tuning on a car. Howard was working on another car next to him, installing a new battery. Duo suddenly stopped and looked up. "Hey Howard?"

"Yeah?"

"Do ya ever get the feeling that something's gonna happen? Like a storm's brewing?"

"Can't say that I have," said Howard. "Why do you ask?"

"Because… I dunno. I just got this weird feeling all of a sudden. Never mind. Forget I mentioned it," said Duo, going back to work.

Under the hood of his car, Howard grinned. Something was gonna happen, all right…

~*~

TBC…


	21. Let's Get Together

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

The revolving doors of the Brussels Intercontinental Hotel spun as Hilde and Sydney entered the hotel's main lobby, suitcases in hand. "Well, it's easy to see why this place is five hundred credits a night," said Hilde, commenting on the sheer opulence of the hotel. The two of them crossed the lobby over to the front desk. 

"I have a reservation for room 443," Hilde said to the desk clerk. "Last name Schbeiker."

The desk clerk typed the name into his computer. "Schbeiker, Hilde?"

"Yes." Hilde rummaged in her purse and took out her credit card. "We'll be staying for the next two nights."

"One moment, please." The clerk took her card and returned it several moments later with a receipt. "Please sign on this line… and here are the cardkeys to your room. Enjoy your stay."

"Thank you." Hilde handed Sydney the cards as they walked away from the desk. "You know what, why don't you go on ahead up to the room without me? I just need to go to the ladies' room. I'll meet you upstairs, okay?"

"If you say so, Mom," said Sydney.

"Thanks, Syd. Here, could you take my suitcase with you?"

"No problem." Sydney grabbed the handle of Hilde's suitcase. "Geez, Mom, how much did you pack in here?" Sydney spotted the elevators at the far end of the lobby. "Great," she said as she proceeded to half-carry, half-drag her mom's suitcase over to the elevators…

~*~

At the same time, a luxury taxi pulled up outside the Brussels Intercontinental. A door opened and Melanie got out, checking her reflection in a compact mirror. "Ugh, that shuttle flight was absolutely terrible. The service was slow, the air was stale, and the seats were cramped… I told you, we should have just taken one of my father's private shuttles. We definitely won't be using public travel during our honeymoon, I'll make sure of that…"

Heidi tuned out Melanie's voice as she helped her dad get one of Melanie's three suitcases out of the trunk. It had taken every ounce of effort to keep from screaming during the flight as she was forced to endure watching Melanie and her father holding hands and looking into each other's eyes and kissing… Heidi shuddered at the memory.

After loading all of Melanie's luggage onto a cart, the three of them entered the hotel. "Could you go ahead and check us in, Duo-dear?" said Melanie. "I'm going to the ladies' room to freshen up."

"Sure, Melanie," said Duo. "I'll wait for you out here."

"Thanks, doll." Melanie blew Duo a kiss as she walked away.

Heidi rolled her eyes and followed her father to the front desk. She looked around at the hotel and spotted Sydney, halfway to the elevators with Hilde's suitcase. Eyes widening, she tugged on her father's braid. "Um, Dad… I think I see someone who needs help with their luggage. I'll meet you in the room, okay?" Plucking one of the cardkeys the clerk had just given to Duo out of his hand, she took off.

Duo blinked. "Why am I always the one to get left behind?"

~*~

Melanie walked briskly toward the ladies' restroom, her heels clicking on the marble floor. The door to the restroom opened and Hilde came out, colliding into Melanie. There was a slight pause as the two of them looked at each other, Melanie's regal, icy features a striking contrast to Hilde's delicate, elfin beauty.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," said Hilde as she helped Melanie pick up her things. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," said Melanie. "Don't worry about it." She continued past Hilde and went into the bathroom, feeling a little unsettled. There was something strangely familiar about that woman…

~*~

Hilde walked past the front desk as she headed for the elevators, narrowly missing seeing Duo as a bellhop going in the opposite direction walked part Hilde with a large vase of flowers. Pressing the up button, Hilde began searching her purse for her cardkey as she waited for the elevator. "I must have given both of them to Sydney," she said to herself. "I'd better double check the room number to make sure…" Zipping up her purse, Hilde turned around and headed back to the front desk to ask the clerk.

Meanwhile, Duo had finished checking-in and left the front desk, sitting down in an armchair to wait for Melanie. He wasn't waiting for long; Melanie came out of the bathroom a few moments later, giving Duo a quick kiss. "Did you get the key to the honeymoon suite, darling? I'd just love to go and see it…"

"Right here." Duo took the key out of his pocket and held it up. "We can go take a look at it now, if you'd like."

"I'd love to." Duo put his arm around her and they walked towards the elevators, passing Hilde at the front desk without realizing it. Duo pressed the up button and a pair of elevator doors opened. Duo and Melanie stepped inside. "Alone at last," said Melanie, wrapping her arms around Duo.

"Room 443. Thanks," Hilde said to the desk clerk. She turned around and spotted an open elevator. "Wait! Hold the doors!" she called out, running toward the elevators.

Duo looked up at the sound of Hilde's voice at the same time Hilde came to a dead halt in front of the elevator. The two of them locked eyes. Duo went completely ashen; Hilde took a step back, her eyes widening in confusion and shock. Melanie, her back to Hilde, continued kissing Duo, totally oblivious to Hilde's presence.

The elevator made a pinging sound and the doors began to close. Duo leaned further and further to his right, trying to keep his eyes on Hilde but the doors shut, leaving both of them standing where they were, stunned at what they had just seen.

~*~

Hilde strode down the hallway of the fourth floor, her lips set in a thin line. "SYDNEY MAXWELL!!!"

At the exact same time, two doors right across from each other opened and Sydney's and Heidi's heads poked out. Hilde did a double take. "Girls, _don't_ do this to me! Which one of you is Sydney?!"

Sydney slowly raised her hand.

"I'll be having some words with _you_, young lady," Hilde said sternly. She turned to Heidi. "Oh, honey, it's so good to see you," she said, giving Heidi a hug. "I've missed you so much…"

"Um, you know what, might I suggest we take this all inside," said Sydney, ushering Hilde and Heidi into the room Hilde had reserved.

Hilde let go of Heidi and pointed to the bed. "All right, both of you, sit down," she ordered. Sydney and Heidi plopped down side-by-side on the bed. Hilde began to pace. "You…" She pointed to Heidi. "I mean, you…" She pointed to Sydney, then threw up her hands. "_One_ of you led me to believe that your father knew I was going to be here today… Well let me tell you, the man I saw in the elevator had no idea we were even on the same _planet_, let alone the same hotel."

"You saw Dad?" Heidi said faintly.

"I certainly did," said Hilde. "Don't you think I've imagined what it would be like to meet your father again after all these years? Well, me standing there gaping like an idiot while Duo Maxwell is wrapped up in another woman's arms is not exactly the scenario I had in mind."

"You saw Melanie?" Sydney said, even more faintly.

"Oh, so _that's_ her name?" said Hilde. "I suppose you simply forgot to tell me about her earlier. Slipped your mind, I daresay…"

"Mom…"

"I suppose what disappoints me the most," said Hilde, "is the fact that my own daughters lied to me and I don't know why. You promised to tell me the truth, Sydney," she said, looking at her reproachfully. "Care to tell me the rest of it?"

Sydney forced herself to meet her mother's gaze. "Mom… Dad's getting married."

Hilde blinked. "Really? Getting married? To this Melanie woman?"

"She's absolutely horrible, Mom," said Heidi. "We can't let him go through with it."

"Girls, your father is a grown man and quite capable of deciding who he wants to marry," said Hilde.

"But she's all wrong for him," said Sydney. "She doesn't love Dad, she loves his money. And the only way he won't marry her is…"

"…is if he sees you again," finished Heidi.

Hilde raised an eyebrow. "You planned this entire thing, didn't you? You're trying to set me up with your father."

"Why not?" said Heidi. "You're perfect for each other."

Hilde shook her head. "Girls, it's not as simple as that… You know what, I'm not going to argue with you right now. I still have to take a shower and make myself look presentable…"

Both girls stood up in objection. "But Mom…"

"We'll discuss this later. Now go and find your father, tell him what you've done and we'll all try and figure out a way out of this mess." And with that, Hilde went into the bathroom and locked the door with a loud click.

Heidi and Sydney exchanged worried glances. "Well, look at it this way," said Sydney, "she's worrying about her appearance, which means she'll be competing with Melanie… Okay, here's what we'll do. You go back to your room and stay up here just in case Dad or Melanie comes by. I'll go downstairs and see if I can find Dad in the lobby. If either of us finds him, we'll keep him away from Melanie. Sound like a plan?"

Heidi rolled her eyes. "We never had a plan in the first place…"

~*~

In another suite a few doors down, Melanie was shaking her head in confusion. "No, I don't understand."

Duo was nervously straightening his clothes and checking his reflection in the mirror. "I just need to go downstairs for a few minutes and clear my head," he said, "then I'll meet you for lunch."

"Clear your head?" asked Melanie. "What do you have to clear your head about? Is something wrong?"

"No, babe, everything's fine," Duo said, quickly kissing Melanie on the cheek. "I gotta go." He went to the door and opened it. "I'll see you in the lobby, okay?"

"But Duo…"

"See ya, babe." Duo left the room to head for the elevators and ran into Sydney. "Dad!" she exclaimed happily, not having seen him all summer.

"Oh hey, kiddo," Duo said distractedly, "I'm just heading down to the lobby. Do me a favor, Melanie's in her room; keep her company, okay?"

"Sure thing, Dad." Unable to help herself, Sydney gave Duo a hug. "It's really great to see you, Dad."

"It's really great to see you too, squirt," said Duo, ruffling Sydney's hair. "I'll see you later, okay?" He turned around for a moment as he continued walking toward the elevators. "Hey, is that a new outfit you're wearing? It looks good on you…"

~*~

Hilde turned on the shower faucet only to find that no water came out. "Oh, I don't _believe_ this!" She stomped out of the bathroom in a terrycloth robe and grabbed the phone to call the front desk. She suddenly changed her mind and put the phone back in its cradle, instead leaving the room and knocking on the door across the hall.

The door opened and Heidi's head popped out. "Yeah Mom?"

"Okay, who am I talking to?" was Hilde's first question.

"I'm Heidi." She noted Hilde's state of dress. "So what can I do for you, Mom?"

"Well for some reason the shower in my room isn't working, so I'm just going to have to use yours. Is that okay?"

"Just be quick about it," said Heidi as she ushered Hilde into the bathroom, "we don't want Dad finding you in here…" She grabbed a pile of towels from the bathroom shelf and thrust them into Hilde's arms. "Go on, hurry up!" she said, shutting the bathroom door in Hilde's face.

Hilde was taken aback. 'She's more like her father than I thought…'

~*~

After his frantic search of the lobby turned out unsuccessful, Duo headed toward the front desk to ask for Hilde's room number was only to bump into Sydney again. "Hi Dad, what's up?" said Sydney.

"Aren't you supposed to be keeping Melanie company?" asked Duo.

"Uh… she wasn't in her room, Dad," said Sydney, thinking quickly. "You know, Dad, you're looking a little frazzled; why don't you go back to our room and take a shower or something?"

"A shower?" Duo checked his reflection in a mirrored wall panel. "Ugh, I'm a complete mess… you're right, I think I'll go back upstairs and fix myself up… if you see Melanie tell her I'll be down in a minute," he said, heading toward the elevators once more.

Duo stepped into an elevator just as Melanie stepped out of another one. Spotting Sydney, she walked toward her. "There you are, Sydney; have you seen your father?"

Sydney looked at Melanie blankly. "Sorry, do I know you?"

Melanie blinked. "Excuse me? In case you've forgotten, I'm your father's _fiancée_…"

"Ohhhhhh. _Melanie_. Hello…" Sydney looked Melanie up and down. 'Well, if it isn't the infamous Melanie…' "Sorry, didn't recognize you there for a second. Um, nope, I haven't seen Dad."

"Well, if you see him, tell him I'm waiting for him, okay?" said Melanie, walking away.

Sydney smirked. "Melanie, you don't stand a chance…"

~*~

"Mom! Hurry it up in there!"

"Hold your horses!" Hilde hurriedly tied the belt on her robe and grabbed her things. "My hair is still dripping wet—"

"Well, dry it when you get into your own room, you're taking way too long!" shouted Heidi.

Hilde opened the bathroom door with a huff. "You know, if you ask me, your living with your father has had a bad influence on your behavior—"

"Uh huh, we can talk about it some other time," said Heidi, steering Hilde out of the room and to the door across the hallway.

"You're not listening to a single word I'm saying, are you?"

"Not really," said Heidi, plucking Hilde's keycard out of her hand and sticking it into the doorknob slot for her. "You could say my pretending to be Sydney has made me act more like her. See ya," she said, pushing Hilde into the room and shutting the door.

A moment later, the elevator doors at the end of the hallway opened and Duo stepped out. "Sydney?"

"Dad!" Heidi exclaimed, startled. "What're you doing back up here?"

"I was gonna ask you the same question… I could have sworn I just saw you downstairs…"

"Me? Downstairs? Oh, um… I was just… going to the room to watch TV?" said Heidi, grinning sheepishly.

"Oh, all right… well, I'll just be taking a quick shower," said Duo.

"A shower? Why?"

"_You_ told me to, remember?"

"I did? I did," said Heidi, making a mental note to yell at Sydney for putting her in this situation. She gestured toward the door. "After you."

"Okay…" Duo unlocked the door with his keycard and the two of them entered the room. Duo went into the bathroom to turn on the water and instead was startled to find a lacy, leopard print bra hanging on the railing of the shower door. 

"What the…" Duo picked it up and peered at it curiously, wondering how it had got there. He went into the bedroom. "Hey Syd?"

"Yeah?" said Heidi, her arm in midair as she was flipping through channels.

"Um, you still haven't seen Melanie around?"

"Nope. I don't think she's even been in here yet."

"Oh." Duo went back into the bathroom. Scratch that; there were just some things he really _didn't_ want to know…

~*~

Wearing a new change of clothes and possibly too much cologne, Duo was back downstairs twenty minutes later, searching the outdoor pool terrace for Hilde. Duo didn't doubt for a moment that it had been Hilde he had seen at the elevators… so why was he having such a hard time finding her? She _had_ to be somewhere in the hotel… Surely she couldn't have left without so much as a hello…

Turning around, Duo spotted Hilde arriving from across the pool, wearing a blue, low-cut three-quarter sleeve shirt that matched her eyes and a black, knee-length a-line skirt, her hair pulled up into a loose twist with short wisps framing her face. Hilde smiled shyly and waved, putting on a pair of sunglasses.

A large group of tourists went by in front of Duo just then, blocking Hilde from view. "Excuse me… pardon me… MOVE!" Duo shouted, trying to keep sight of Hilde, but after the last tourist had passed Hilde was nowhere to be seen. Why were there so many people at the pool deck all of a sudden? 

Duo hurriedly began to make his way over to the other side of the pool, lest Hilde should leave the area. He walked past Sydney sitting on a chaise and sipping a pink lemonade. "Looking for somebody, Dad?"

"What?" said Duo, not really paying attention, having spotted Hilde ordering an iced tea at the bar. Duo sidestepped around several people, nearly tripping over a life preserver in his haste.

Heidi grabbed his sleeve to steady him. "You okay, Dad?"

"Fine. Never been better." Duo absentmindedly patted Heidi's head and moved on. Hilde was now walking away from the bar with a tall glass of iced tea, making her way over to a cluster of café tables over by the hotel's gardens near the deep end of the pool. 

By now, however, Duo was no longer watching where he was going…

"Dad, WATCH OUT!!!" Sydney and Heidi yelled at the same time as Duo's left foot caught on the leg of a lounge chair and he pitched forward, falling headfirst into the deep end of the swimming pool with a terrific splash.

Hilde turned to see Duo haul himself out of the pool, completely soaked, with an inch long gash on his right temple. "Oh my God! Duo!" Hilde ran over to where he had staggered over to a chaise and sat down. "Could someone please get a first-aid kit?" she called out.

"Hilde? What are you—"

Hilde thanked a towel boy for bringing her a first-aid kit. "Don't move, Duo, I have to stop the bleeding. Let me see that cut…"

Duo pushed her arm away. "Will you stop—I'm perfectly fine—"

"You're _not_ fine, Duo, you're still bleeding all over the place—"

"I am _not_…"

"In case you didn't notice, Duo, that red substance dripping down your face is called _blood_…"

Duo suddenly found himself on his back. "Really, I can take care of myself—"

"Stop _moving_, Duo, I can't see—"

"Will you stop fussing—"

Hilde sat astride Duo's lap to try and immobilize him. "I'm not fussing, I'm trying to keep you from bleeding to death—"

"You're making a big deal out of nothing—it's only a scratch—get _off_—"

"I would if you'd stop moving—"

"You don't have to do anything, I'm fine—"

"Typical Gundam pilot, always ignoring your injuries—"

"For the last time, I'm not injured!"

"Keep _still_!" Hilde leaned forward with the gauze. "Okay, let's patch you up…"

At this point, Duo's male rationale kicked in, as he realized he was pinned under a still _very_ attractive Hilde, with a perfect view of her cleavage.

Duo immediately ceased struggling.

"There you go," said Hilde. "How does that feel? Duo?"

Hilde looked down into Duo's eyes at the same time Duo looked up into hers. Hilde still found herself irresistibly drawn in by their intensity. She brushed Duo's wet bangs out of his face and began to lean closer.

'It's been so long…'

"Just _where_ have you been, Duo?!"

Melanie walked into the pool area, breaking the spell. Duo immediately shoved Hilde off of him and Hilde landed painfully on the pool deck. "Melanie… this isn't what it looks like… I can explain…"

"What on Earth is going on here? Why are you all wet? And who is this woman?" Melanie said angrily.

"Um… I know this is gonna sound crazy…" said Duo. "I'm having a hard time believing it myself but… this is my… ex-wife, Hilde."

"_Ex-wife_?" said Melanie. "Here? Today? My, my, what a coincidence…"

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing myself… What _are_ you doing here, Hilde?" asked Duo. "I haven't seen or heard from you in the last eleven years and all of a sudden you're popping up everywhere I look and… well, we're all pretty confused here and I would really appreciate an explanation and you seem to be the only one with answers and what I'd really like to know is…"

Heidi popped up next to Duo. "Dad, I can explain why she's here."

Sydney popped up on his other side. "So can I, Dad."

Melanie screamed and jumped back. "Who—what—"

Duo looked back and forth between the girls several times. "Sydney? Heidi? Both of them?"

"Am I missing something here?" said Melanie.

"Uh, Melanie…" Duo began, "did I ever mention that Sydney was a twin?"

"Definitely _not_," said Melanie. "Two of them? How wonderful."__

"They switched places on us at camp, Duo," said Hilde. "They arranged this whole thing from the start."

Duo blinked. "You mean I've had Heidi all this time?"

"Yeah," said Heidi. "I guess you and Mom sort of think alike because you both sent us to the same camp. We met and the whole thing kind of just spilled out. I wanted to know what you were like and Sydney wanted to meet Mom… so we sorta switched lives. You're not mad, are you?"

"Of course not…" Duo took Heidi into his arms and hugged her. "I just can't believe it's you… the last time I saw you, you had diaper rash… Look at you…" Duo pulled Sydney to him. "This is amazing. Both my girls… seeing you together…"

"So let me get this straight," said Melanie. "You're the girls' mother?" she said, pointing to Hilde.

"I am," said Hilde.

"And you and Duo have each been living with one twin?"

"Yes we have."

"And they switched places at camp to get to know the other parent."

"Correct."

"So I guess the real question would be… what are we all doing here on the exact same day?"

"The girls… arranged for Duo and I to… discuss their custody situation," said Hilde, choosing her words very carefully.

The twins smiled.

Melanie's eyes narrowed. "How… sweet of them. Conveniently scheduling this while Duo and I are supposed to be looking for a place to honeymoon and all."

"Well, better to find out now than later, right?" quipped Sydney. "Before you get married and all. Now all the cards are out on the table. Imagine if another twin showed up on your doorstep a few years into your marriage…"

"Yes. Very fortunate." Melanie forced a smile. "Well, I guess I'd better leave this up to you two. Just remember, we still have a flight departing for Paris tomorrow morning. With or without either of you," she said, shooting a nasty look at the twins. She turned around and walked back into the hotel.

Duo stood up. "I guess I'd better go upstairs and change into something dry." He looked at Hilde. "So… how do you want to do this?"

Heidi whispered something into Sydney's ear. "We know," said Sydney.

"Know what?" asked Duo, turning to his daughters.

"Know what to do," said Heidi.

"But… you're going to have to wait to find out," said Sydney.

"What do you mean we have to wait? You're not telling us?" asked Hilde.

"Nope," said Heidi.

"Well why not?" said Duo.

"Sorry," said Sydney, "it's on a need to know basis."

"And you don't need to know quite yet," said Heidi.

"Just meet us downstairs in the main lobby at six o'clock tonight," said Sydney.

"Wear something nice," said Heidi.

"Something nice? What for?" asked Hilde.

"Can't tell you that," said Sydney.

"You're just going to have to trust us," said Heidi.

"Now if you'll excuse us, we have some arrangements to make," said Sydney. She grabbed her sister's hand and the two of them walked away.

"Uh… what just happened?" asked Duo.

"I'll tell you what happened," said Hilde, "we're two grown adults who just let ourselves be manipulated by a pair of eleven-year-olds."

"I know," said Duo. "Shouldn't we be worried?"

~*~

TBC…


	22. Dinner For Two

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

"You can't possibly be serious."

Duo ran a hand through his bangs. "I'm really sorry to have to put you through all of this, Melanie. You don't know how grateful I've been for your support…"

"Really, Duo, isn't this taking it a bit too far?" said Melanie. "I just don't see the point in having dinner with your ex-wife. Why don't you two just meet in the lobby, discuss the custody situation, shake hands, and leave?"

"The girls have never had dinner with both their parents their entire lives," said Duo. "How could I say no?"

"Can't you see, it's another one of their setups," said Melanie, finishing off her cappuccino and dabbing her lips with a napkin. "It's so obvious why they're doing this. Your daughters don't want me to marry you."

"C'mon, you know that's not true."

"I'm telling you, those girls are up to something," Melanie went on as she took out her compact and began reapplying her lipstick. "They see me as being the evil stepmother, Duo. Believe me, there's nothing they'd like more than to see you and their mother get back together."

"They're smart girls, Melanie; they know that's not possible," said Duo. "What Hilde and I were… that's in the past. You've got nothing to worry about, babe; we'll only have dinner just this once, for the girls' sake, and then we'll probably never see each other again."

"Are you so sure about that, Duo? What if—"

"There's no use worrying about what may or may not happen," said Duo. "It'll only be a couple of hours at the most. You trust me, don't you?"

"Of course I do, it's them I don't trust—"

"I think," said Duo, getting up, "I've got to go and get ready for dinner."

"But—"

"Here," said Duo, taking out his credit card, "why don't you go explore the city while I'm gone? The shopping here in Brussels is second best only to that of Paris. It'll help take your mind off this whole mess for a few hours."

Melanie's face lit up. "Really? I suppose that wouldn't be so bad…"

"Thanks for being so understanding, babe." Duo gave Melanie a quick kiss on the forehead and left the poolside café area. 

Duo walked back into the hotel and headed toward the elevators but stopped short of stepping inside, instead deciding to go to the front desk.

"Hi," Duo said to the desk clerk. "Um… do you know of any shops around here that can have a suit ready in two hours?"

~*~

Sydney and Heidi stood outside the main lobby's front doors, eagerly waiting for their parents to arrive. They were wearing matching short-sleeved blouses and knee-length floral print skirts but in different colors, Sydney in light blue and Heidi in lavender. Both girls had put their hair half up in curls and wore the same shade of pink lip-gloss.

"They agreed to do this. They actually agreed to do this," said Heidi in wonderment.

"Well of course they did, they wouldn't have if they weren't still madly in love with each other," Sydney said matter-of-factly. "I just wish they would admit it to each other…"

Duo arrived first, wearing a black suit with a wine red shirt and black silk tie. Sydney and Heidi didn't fail to notice the bouquet of yellow daffodils he held—their mother's favorite flowers.

"Girls," said Duo, "I've had enough surprises for one day… just tell me where we're going."

"Trust us, Dad," said Sydney. "You're going to love it."

"So where's your mother?" Duo asked, looking around.

"I'm sure she's on her way," said Heidi.

Duo scratched his head. "Yeah, she always did take forever to get ready…" He stopped at the look that passed between Heidi and Sydney. "Hey, that doesn't mean anything, alright? So don't go getting any more ideas…"

"Right. We'll do that," said Sydney, smirking.

Just then, Hilde stepped out of the hotel, looking absolutely stunning in her red beaded dress, which glittered facets of red light with every movement. She wore a ruby and diamond teardrop vintage necklace with matching teardrop earrings, one of the few Schbeiker family heirlooms she had managed to hang on to during the war. Her hair was up in a simple but elegant French twist. "Hello. Duo."

It was a few moments before Duo could respond. "Hi… you look… nice," he said lamely, trying not to admire her… too openly. He held out the daffodil bouquet. "Here. These are for you."

"Thank you," said Hilde, taking the flowers and smelling their sweet scent. "Daffodils have always been my… favorite."

Duo caught Hilde's gaze for a long moment. "I know."

A little unnerved, Hilde looked away. "So, do you know where they're taking us?"

"No idea," said Duo, "they won't crack."

Hilde suppressed a smile. "Reminds me of someone I once tried to interrogate many years ago…"

Duo opened his mouth to say something only to be interrupted by the arrival of a gleaming, spotless black double-stretch limo, which pulled up before them right next to the curb.

"Is this our ride?" Duo said disbelievingly.

"Yep," said Sydney.

Hilde raised an eyebrow. "And how exactly did you pay for this?"

"Um… we pooled our allowances?" said Heidi.

"Even I'm not falling for _that_," said Duo.

"Well, we kind of tapped into… additional resources," said Sydney.

"What kind of additional resources?" asked Hilde.

"Um… we sorta… hacked into Uncle Wufei's bank account," answered Heidi.

Duo sweatdropped. "Did you ever stop to think that that might be _illegal_?"

"Dad, you told me yourself, anything and everything is legal as long as you don't get caught," said Sydney.

Hilde leveled an icy glare at Duo. "I can't believe you'd teach that to your own daughter!"

"Hold on, this is _not_ my fault…"

"We promise we'll send Uncle Wufei an apology note," said Heidi. "Besides, we made it so that he won't notice the money's gone until three days from now."

"And how much money did you take?" asked Duo.

"Trust us," said Sydney, "you _really_ don't want to know."

"Let's just forget about that and get into the limo, okay everybody?" said Heidi.

"Right-o." Duo crossed over to the limo and opened the door. "Ladies first."

Hilde shrugged and entered the limo first, causing Duo's eyes to widen as he saw the plunging backline of her dress. Sydney and Heidi followed and then Duo got in and shut the door.

"Okay," said Sydney, handing Duo and Hilde each a pair of dark sunglasses with large frames as the limo began to move, "put these on. You can take them off once we arrive at our destination."

"Are these really necessary?" asked Hilde.

"You guys _did_ agree to leave yourselves at our mercy," said Heidi. "But don't worry, you'll be safe with us."

Duo put his glasses on. "Well, it could be worse, the girls could be behind the wheel, say…"

"You know, that's a cool idea… let's ask the driver…"

"Absolutely _not_!!!"

~*~

The limo slowed to a stop fifteen minutes later. "Hang on, Heidi and I will get out first; you guys can follow in just a sec," said Sydney. There was the sound of the limo door opening and the twins scrambling out.

"Oh _excellent_, this is perfect," Duo and Hilde heard one of the girls say. "Ok, you can come out and take the glasses off."

Duo and Hilde got out, removing their sunglasses. Their eyes widened as they took in the sight of a 150-foot white luxury yacht, all lit up and bobbing serenely in one of Brussels' main canals.

"She's ours for the night," said Heidi.

"_Please_ tell me Wufei's bank account isn't empty," said Duo.

Sydney nudged her sister. "Is it?"

"I don't quite recall…"

"We must have left _something_…"

Duo groaned. "Wufei will find a way to blame all of this on me, I know it…"

"Okay everyone, right this way," said Sydney, leading Duo and Hilde down the dock steps and onto the boat deck. "And here we are!"

Sydney and Heidi opened a pair of double doors. "Ta da!"

Inside was a candle-lit table with a white tablecloth and silver edged white china. The ship's windows opened to reveal the lit nightscape of downtown Brussels. "Do sit down," said Heidi as she and Sydney both pulled out chairs for their parents.

As Duo and Hilde sat down something immediately became evident. "Uhhh… the table's only set for two," Duo pointed out.

"That's the other part of the surprise," said Sydney.

"We're not joining you," said Heidi.

"You're not?" said Hilde in disbelief.

"Nope," said Sydney.

"See ya!" chirped Heidi. The two girls disappeared behind the double doors. A steward dressed in ship's whites came out with a bottle of champagne and proceeded to pour some into each of their flutes.

"Well then, it looks like just the two of us," said Duo. He lifted his glass. "Here's to—"

"Our daughters," Hilde said quickly, holding up her glass.

"…Right," Duo said, although that hadn't been exactly what he'd had in mind. "To our daughters."

Their glasses met with a chime of crystal. "You know," said Hilde, "I always see you in Heidi. Something about her eyes."

"That's funny," said Duo, "I always see you in Sydney. Something about her smile."

They both silently sipped their champagne for a moment. "They turned out great, though, huh?" said Duo.

"We've been lucky," said Hilde.

"So, what do you think we should do? Now that they've met we certainly can't keep them apart."

"I could keep them for half a year," Hilde began, "and then you could—"

"They can't go to two schools every year."

"Every other year, then."

"Hilde, this is why we came up with the solution we have."

"Really? I thought it was because we decided never to see each other again," Hilde said in a quiet voice.

Duo looked away. "Not me, Hilde…"

The steward returned with two bowls of soup and placed them in front of Duo and Hilde.  Duo looked down at his place setting. "I can never figure out why they give us so many of these things. Outside in, right?"

Hilde bit back a smile. "Yeah."

Duo took the farthest spoon and started his soup. "So, how come you never got married again? I always figured by now you'd be remarried with a new family…"

Hilde looked up. "Me? No, no… no, no, no…"

Duo raised an eyebrow. "That's a lot of no's…"

Hilde shook her head. "That's because I realized a long time ago that marriage wasn't for me."

Several moments passed by in silence. Duo looked out the window at the Brussels skyline. "Hilde?"

"Hmm?"

"I may never be alone with you again, so do you think… maybe we could talk about... what happened between us?"

Hilde stopped eating. "I didn't think there was anything more to talk about."

"I…" Duo sighed heavily. "I was so afraid of losing you… and then I lost you anyway."

Hilde set down her soup spoon. "I know you wanted to protect me, Duo, but becoming a Preventer was something I needed to do. It was important to me. It still is. I knew I didn't want to work at the garage for the rest of my life. But you couldn't bring yourself to let go. So I packed, got on the next shuttle to Earth, and… you didn't come after me."

There was a long pause. "I didn't know I was supposed to." Duo's expression was pained.

Hilde shrugged. "Well, it doesn't really matter now… let's just put on a good face for the girls and get this show on the road."

Duo looked crestfallen. "Okay. Yeah. You're right. Let's get the show on the road."

Not another word was said for the rest of the meal.

~*~

The atmosphere on the way back to the hotel was a very somber one. Sydney and Heidi's attempts at making conversation failed; Duo looked miserable, and Hilde's expression showed no emotion. Upon arriving at the hotel, the elevator ride on the way up to their floor was completely silent. Sydney and Heidi glanced at each other worriedly through the mirrored wall panel.

The elevator doors opened and everyone stepped out. Duo turned to Sydney and Heidi. "How about you girls stay in my room tonight? I'm gonna go see how Melanie's doing."

Sydney's face fell. "Um, alright, Dad."

Duo looked at Hilde. "Well, it was nice seeing you again, Hilde," he said, his voice rather constrained. "Good night."

"Good night to you too, Duo." Hilde turned toward the direction to their rooms. "C'mon, let's go."

"Good night, Dad," Sydney and Heidi said as they followed Hilde down one hall, Duo heading in the opposite direction. When they reached their rooms, Heidi took out her keycard and stuck it into the slot. "Good night," Hilde said as she did the same. "Don't stay up too late." The lock clicked open and Hilde opened the door and went in, shutting the door behind her.

Sydney and Heidi entered their room and let the door swing shut. Sydney sank miserably to the floor. "This is the end of the line. It's over. I mean, what else can we do?" She sniffled. "Dammit, I never cry."

Heidi went over to her suitcase. "We still have one more option."

Sydney looked up. "What are you talking about?"

Heidi rummaged around inside her suitcase and pulled out two sets of t-shirts and jeans. "Howard and I came up with this to be used as a last resort."

Sydney stared at her disbelievingly. "What good will a bunch of clothes do?"

Heidi's face broke into a wide grin. "These aren't just any clothes. They're _exactly_ the same."

Realization dawned on Sydney. "You mean…"

"Remember when we said that if we couldn't tell ourselves apart, then neither could Mom and Dad? It's time to put it to the test."

~*~

TBC…


	23. Things Don't Always Go As Planned

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing nor the Parent Trap.

* * *

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

* * *

Duo went downstairs the next morning to check out of the hotel only to spot Hilde already at the front desk. He nearly turned around right at that moment but forced himself to keep walking. 'Don't be irrational, it's only Hilde,' he told himself. He went up to the front desk and stood next to her. "Good morning," he said. "Where are the girls?"

"They said they'd be down in five minutes," said Hilde. She tapped the bell for the desk clerk. "Yes, I'd like to check out, please."

"Checking out already?" asked Duo.

"Yeah," said Hilde. "There's really no point in my staying here any longer; my place is only twenty minutes from here. Besides, I've got to get over to Preventers; Une has some codes for me to break, plus there's some kind of orientation program for new trainees and I'm scheduled to present. It'll probably take me the rest of the day as it is." She signed her name at the bottom of the checkout notice. "What about you?"

"Melanie wants to go ring shopping before we go off to the airport," said Duo, signing a checkout slip as well, "so we're checking out early."

"Oh." Hilde pretended to look through her purse for something; it was easier than trying to maintain eye contact with Duo and keep her composure while doing so. "So, um… when's the wedding?" she asked, trying to make her voice as casual sounding as she could.

"July 30th," said Duo. "I'll remember to send you an invitation."

Hilde abruptly dropped her purse. "No! No, that won't be necessary… um… um, I think I'm scheduled for a Preventers mission around that time, so I probably wouldn't be able to make it, anyway." She knelt down and began to pick up the contents of her purse.

"Oh, okay then," said Duo. "Here, let me help you with that," he said, kneeling down and reaching for a makeup compact.

"No, it's okay, I've got it," said Hilde, reaching for the same compact. The two of them knocked heads. "Ow!" they exclaimed at the same time. They looked up at each other and started laughing, and then, realizing what they were doing, quickly stopped.

Both of them stood up. "So, I'll send Sydney back to you over Christmas," said Duo.

"And I'll see that Heidi spends Easter with you," said Hilde.

The elevator doors opened and Sydney ad Heidi stepped out, looking very happy about something. "Good morning!" they chirped, far too cheerfully.

"Hey, are those new clothes?" asked Duo, noticing their identical jeans and t-shirts.

"Yep," said Heidi. "Do you like them?"

"Yeah, you look nice," said Duo, realizing the conundrum their identical clothing presented. He peered at Heidi. "This one's Sydney, I'm positive."

Heidi grinned at him. "I hope you're right, Dad. You wouldn't want to bring the wrong kid back all the way to L2."

Duo looked to Hilde, hesitating.

"Oh for goodness' sake, we've been living with one of them for eleven years, we should be able to tell them apart. This one's Heidi," she said, grabbing Sydney's arm.

Sydney smirked. "You sure, Mom? After all, you've been living with the other twin for a week and you never noticed any difference."

"Well, what about their crosses?" said Duo. "They've got their names on them."

"What makes you think we haven't switched our crosses too?" said Heidi.

"Here's our proposition," said Sydney (or was it Heidi?). "We go to Dad's house, pack our stuff and the four of us leave on the camping trip."

"The four of us?!" exclaimed Hilde.

"And when you bring us back, we'll tell you who's Sydney and who's Heidi," said the other girl.

"You must understand, the four of us have barely been together for twenty-four hours, and you're already splitting us up again. It really isn't fair."

"No, what really isn't fair is this underhanded stunt you're trying to pull," Hilde said angrily. "Now look, we all have lives to get back to and your father still has a wedding to plan."

Heidi shrugged. "We can stand here and argue about this all day, Mom, but we're not going to crack."

Hilde crossed her arms. "I refuse to negotiate any further with the pair of you. Now, you will do as we say and I will take one of you back with me whether you like it or not…"

* * *

"So much for Preventers tactics."

Duo threw another duffel bag into the back of his pickup as Hilde shot him a nasty look for his comment. "What?" he shrugged. "You weren't able to negotiate with me; what made you think we could negotiate with our kids?"

"Our children are not terrorists!"

"Is it really all that different though? We succumbed to their demands, didn't we? We had no choice."

"It's exactly that kind of thinking that'll make them believe they can keep getting away with the kinds of things they are doing!" Hilde exclaimed.

"Well then we're just terrible parents, aren't we?"

"We? _We_?!" Hilde shoved him in the chest. "Oh noooooo, Duo, not _me_, it's you. They sense your weakness. They can tell—they _know_ you'll give in first. That's how children work, when they sense a moment of weakness, they'll exploit it to the fullest extent."

"Sheesh, you sound almost like Heero. Look, why are you getting so worked up? I don't see what's so bad about this camping trip, anyway."

"_Ahem_. _I_ do." Melanie got out of her car, which seemed to have arrived during Duo and Hilde's argument without their noticing. "Look, I'm not sure I'm so comfortable with the idea of the four of you going on this little camping trip."

"I agree," said Hilde. "The ex-wife in the next sleeping bag is a little weird…"

"Exactly," said Melanie.

"I insist you come with us," Hilde abruptly added.

"_What_?!" Duo and Melanie exclaimed at the same time.

"This would be a really great trip for you to take, Melanie," Hilde went on. "It'll be a wonderful opportunity for you to get to know the twins. Because starting next month, they're half yours."

Melanie almost looked more afraid of that prospect than the idea of camping. "I—I'm not really the camping type…"

"Oh, we'll be more than glad to help you learn the ropes," said Hilde. "I just know you'll find it enjoyable."

Duo looked thoroughly bewildered. "Hilde…"

Hilde smiled. "Duo, I messed up your entire weekend. It's the _least_ I can do to pay you back." She took Melanie's arm. "Let's go, Melanie, we need to find you some clothes…"

* * *

Sydney and Heidi walked out of the house with Howard, dressed and ready to go. As they climbed into the pickup, Melanie's car pulled into the driveway. Hilde and Melanie got out, Melanie now dressed in tight black workout gear.

"Dad, what's _she_ doing here?!" exclaimed Heidi.

Duo got behind the wheel. "Your mom invited her. Be nice."

Sydney and Heidi exchanged horrified glances with each other as Melanie got into the front seat, smiling at them.

Hilde shut the door after Melanie. "All right, have a fun trip, everybody!"

Duo looked at her. "Hilde, what's going on?"

"I think you and Melanie really need some time alone together before the big day," said Hilde. "You wouldn't enjoy yourselves with a third wheel hanging around, anyway."

"Mom!" Sydney burst out. "Come on, that's not the plan!"

"Oh, I'm sure you'll have much more fun without me," said Hilde, waving her hand modestly.

Melanie suddenly looked like she was having second thoughts. "Look, if you're not going… I don't really have to go… I'm not exactly a big nature girl…"

"Nonsense, I absolutely insist." Hilde smiled.

"Well, alright then…" Duo started the engine and began to pull off the driveway.

"Mom, what are you _doing_?!" the twins yelled, hitting their fists on the windows.

Hilde waved. "Be sure to have fun on my behalf, okay?" she said, winking.

As the car disappeared out the front gate, Howard turned to Hilde. "There is no way she is going to make it through the night…"

* * *

TBC…


End file.
